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THE  LIBRARY  OF  THE 
UNIVERSITY  OF 
NORTH  CAROLINA 
AT  CHAPEL  HILL 


ENDOWED  BY  THE 
DIALECTIC  AND  PHILANTHROPIC 
SOCIETIES 


F129 
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ANNALS  OF  ALBANY. 


BY.  J.  MUYSELL. 


VOL.  VI. 


ALBANY: 

J.  MUNSELL,  78  STATE  STREET. 

1855. 


f 


>5  ( XTH 

V  O  L  V  fl  L 


4  8-3  7  5"  7 


CONTENTS. 


Steam  Navigation  on  the  Hudson,  7 

Lutheran  Church,  -----  46 

Episcopal  Church,  -  -  -  50 

Dutch  Reformed  Church,  _  67 

Great  Comet  of  1680,  -----  95 

Church  of  Kinderhook,  -----  97 

Notes  from  the  Newspapers,  -  100 

Inscriptions  in  the  Ref.  Prot.  Dutch  Burial  Ground,  131 
First  White  Woman  in  Albany,  -  200 

Eulogy  on  the  Life  and  Character  of  Jesse  Buel,  201 
Journal  of  the  Rev.  John  Taylor,  -  -  -  219 

History  of  the  Third  Presbyterian  Church,  -  -  223 

The  City  Records,  1710  to  1713,  -  -  -  242 

Form  of  Judgment  Record,  1698,  -  292 

Aunt  Schuyler  House,  -----  2 95 

Albany  Plums,  ------  302 

John  C.  Spencer,  ------  307 

Old  State  Hall,  --  -  -  -  -  -  316 

Annals  of  the  Year  1854,  -  -  -  -  319 

Criminal  Statistics  1854,  -----  349 

Index,  -  -  -  -  -  353 


r 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


♦ 


Map  of  New  Netherland,  -----  1 

TEolopile,  -  -  -  -  -  -7 

Fitch’s  Steam  Boat,  1788,  ...  -  10 

First  American  Locomotive,  -  -  -  -  -  12 

Clermont  Steam  Boat,  -----  34 

South  America  Steam  Boat,  -  -  -  -  -  42 

Schoharie  Creek  and  Church,  -  -  -  61 

Monument  to  Jesse  Buel,  -  139 

Portrait  of  Jesse  Buel,  -  -  -  -  -  201 

Third  Presbyterian  Church,  -  223 


ANNALS  OF  ALBANY. 


* 


STEAM  NAVIGATION  ON  THE 

HUDSON. 


ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS  OF  STEAM  AS  A  MOTIVE  POWER. 

All  the  inventions  and  improvements  of  modern  times, 
if  measured  by  their  effects  upon  the  condition  of  society, 
sink  into  insignificance,  when  compared  with  the  extra¬ 
ordinary  results  which  have  followed  the  employment  of 
steam  as  a  mechanical  agent.  We  may  therefore  be  al¬ 
lowed  to  dwell  a  little  upon  its  early  history. 

The  force  of  steam,  although  it  appears  to  have  been 
known  before  the  Christian  era,  was  nearly  altogether 

overlooked  until  within  the  last  two  centu¬ 
ries.  The  most  important  application  of 
it  which  appears  to  have  been  made  by  the 
ancients,  was  in  the  construction  of  the  in- 
strument  which  they  calltd  iEolopile,  that 
is,  the  ball  of  iEolus.  By  this  contrivance 
a  ball  was  forced  out  of  a  cup  and  suspend¬ 
ed  in  the  air,  the  extent  of  its  elevation  de¬ 
pending  on  the  force  of  the  steam.  Simi¬ 
lar  philosophic  toys  were  constructed  by 
Hero,'  a  Greek  residing  at  Alexandria. 

That  so  ingenious  a  people  as  the  Greeks 
should  not  have  been  led  to  a  practical 
application  of  the  agent  which  was  so 
exquisitely  moulded  by  Hero  into  a  mechanical  power, 
[Annals,  vi.]  2 


8  Steam  Navigation  on  the  Hudson. 

may,  in  all  probability,  be  ascribed  to  the  operation  of 
the  same  causes  as  those  which  have  thrown  a  veil  of 
deep  and  impenetrable  obscurity  on  so  many  of  the  arts 
of  antiquity. 

For  many  centuries  the  experiments  that  continued 
to  be  made  with  steam  resulted  in  no  useful  purpose. 
Some  vague  speculations  are  ascribed  to  the  Marquis  of 
Worcester  about  1(560,  and,  in  1680,  Papin,  a  Frenchman, 
is  supposed  to  have  invented  the  safety  valve.  He  is^the 
first  who  speaks  of  the  probability  of  propelling  vessels 
against  the  wind  by  means  of  steam.  About  1710  a 
steam  machine  was  used  in  draining  a  mine  in  England, 
and  a  few  years  later  we  learn  that  steam  engines  were 
sent  from  England  to  Russia;  but  as  yet  they  were 
used  merely  to  form  a  vacuum,  and  are  denominated  at¬ 
mospheric  engines.  During  the  next  twenty  years  se¬ 
veral  Englishmen  made  experiments  for  the  propulsion 
of  boats  by  steam.  But  it  was  reserved  for  James  Watt 
to  conceive  that  steam  might  be  admitted  to  depress  the 
piston  into  a  vacuum,  instead  of  the  atmosphere.  Mi¬ 
nor  improvements  followed  in  quick  succession,  and  his 
engines  soon  acquired  a  precedence  over  all  others. 
French  artisans  were  also  busy  with  the  same  idea.  In 
1774  the  Count  d’  Auxiron  made  an  experiment  with  a 
boat  on  the  Seine,  but  the  model  was  defective  in  the 
construction  of  the  wheels  as  well  as  the  perfection  of  the 
engine,  and  the  boat  moved  so  slowly  and  irregularly, 
that  the  company,  at  whose  expense  the  trial  had  been 
made,  considered  that  the  result  offered  no  inducement 
to  persevere. 

In  1775.  John  Fitch,  an  obscure  and  unlettered  Ameri¬ 
can  mechanic,  conceived  the  project  of  a  steam  boat.  A 
similar  thought  had  also  occurred  to  a  Mr.  Henry,  of  Lan¬ 
caster,  Pa.;  and  in  1778  the  well  known  Thomas  Paine 
had  mentioned  a  similar  project  to  Andrew  Elicott, 
famous  for  his  ingenuity.  Some  of  these,  and  particular¬ 
ly  Fitch,  were  entirely  ignorant  that  any  thing  of  the  kind 
had  ever  been  thought  of  by  any  one  else.  In  1788  Fitch 
applied  for  and  obtained  a  patent  for  the  application  of 
steam  to  navigation.  He  had  previously  made  a  model 


9 


Steam  Navigation  on  the  Hudson. 

of  his  contrivance  and  showed  it  to  Gen.  Washington,  who 
then  recollected  that  a  Mr.  Rumsey  of  Virginia  had  men¬ 
tioned  the  same  subject  to  him  in  conversation  in  the  win¬ 
ter  of  1784.  But  Fitch  alleges  that  the  model  then  ex¬ 
hibited  by  Rumsey,  was  a  boat  to  stem  the  current  of 
rapid  rivers,  by  means  of  wheels,  cranks  and  poles;  a 
contrivance  which  Fitch  says  had  been  tried  many  years 
before  either  his  or  Rumsey’s  had  been  thought  of,  on  the 
Schuylkill,  by  a  farmer  near  Reading,  and  failed.  Fitch 
claims  to  have  made  an  experiment  in  1783,  on  the  Dela¬ 
ware,  and  succeeded  in  moving  a  boat  by  paddles  which 
derived  their  motion  from  a  steam  engine.  Both  Fitch 
and  Rumsey  were  supported  by  associations  of  wealthy 
persons  who  advanced  money  to  make  partial  experiments 
and  to  assist  in  taking  out  patents  in  England.  It  appears 
that  in  1786,  Rumsey,  having  procured  a  patent  in  Mary¬ 
land  made  a  trial  with  his  boat,  and  succeeded  in  propel¬ 
ling  by  steam  alone,  against  the  current  of  the  Potomac,  at 
the  rate  of  four  or  Jive  miles  an  hour!  His  boat  was 
about  fifty  feet  in  length,  and  was  propelled  by  a  pump 
worked  by  steam,  which  lifted  a  quantity  of  water  up 
through  the  keel,  and  forced  it  out  at  the  stern,  through 
a  horizontal  trunk  in  the  bottom.  The  reaction  of  the 
effluent  water  carried  her  at  the  above  rate,  when  loaded 
with  three  tons,  in  addition  to  the  weight  of  her  engine, 
about  a  third  of  a  ton.  The  boiler  held  no  more  than  five 
gallons,  and  needed  only  a  pint  of  water  at  a  time,  and 
the  whole  machinery  did  not  occupy  a  space  greater 
than  that  required  for  four  barrels  of  flour.  The  fuel  con¬ 
sumed  was  about  equal  to  four  or  six  bushels  in  twelve 
hours.  Rumsey  had  another  project,  which  was  to  apply 
the  power  to  long  poles,  and  by  that  means  push  a  boat 
against  a  rapid  current. 

It  was  not  till  1788  that  Fitch  got  ready  to  make  his 
experiment.  In  that  year  his  boat  was  launched  in  the 
Delaware.  The  annexed  engraving  will  give  some  idea  of 
it.  It  was  moved  by  twelve  paddles,  six  of  which  ope¬ 
rated  at  a  time.  The  boat  performed  her  trip  to  Burling¬ 
ton,  a  distance  of  twenty  miles:  but  unfortunately  bursted 
her  boiler  in  rounding  to  the  wharf.  He  procured  another 


10 


Steam  Navigation  on  the  Hudson. 


Fitch’s  Steam  Boat,  1788. 


boiler,  and  performed  another  trip  from  Trenton  to  Bur¬ 
lington  and  back  in  the  same  day.  She  moved  at  the 
rate  of  eight  miles  an  hour ,  but  some  parts  of  the  ma¬ 
chinery  were  continually  breaking,  and  the  unhappy 
projector  only  conquered  one  difficulty  to  encounter 
another.  Perhaps  this  was  not  owing  to  any  defect  in  his 
plans,  but  to  the  low  state  of  the  arts  at  that  time,  and 
the  difficulty  of  getting  such  complex  machinery  made 
with  proper  exactness.  Both  these  Americans,  and  in¬ 
deed  most  of  the  European  experimenters,  labored  under 
the  disadvantage  of  imperfect  models  to  make  their  ex¬ 
periments  with;  their  machines  being  the  productions  of 
inexperienced  workmen,  laboring  with  improper  and  in¬ 
efficient  instruments.  Little  else  than  failure  could  be 
anticipated  of  the  Lest  conceived  engines  under  such  cir¬ 
cumstances. 

A  host  of  ingenious  men  in  England  with  Watt  at  their 
head,  were  now  lending  their  energies  to  perfect  the  steam 
engine,  with  a  view  to  applying  it  to  manufacturing  pur¬ 
poses.  The  great  improvements  introduced  by  Ark¬ 
wright  and  Cartwright  in  spinning  and  weaving  cotton, 
gave  employment  to  a  great  number  of  engines  and  their 
demand  for  various  purposes  was  increasing.  The  Ame¬ 
rican  experimenters  were  engaged  in  applying  it  to  the  pro¬ 
pulsion  of  boats  and  land  carriages.  Among  the  latter 
were  Fitch,  Rumsey,  Evans,  Stevens,  Livingston  and 
Fulton, 

The  project  of  Genevois,  to  impel  boats  by  an  oar, 
after  the  model  of  those  exhibited  by  nature,  was  revived 


Steam  Navigation  on  the  Hudson.  II! 

by  the  Earl  of  Stanhope,  in  England,  in  1795;Yhe  paddles, 
made  to  open  and  shut  like  the  feet  of  a  duck,  were  placed, 
under  the  quarters  of  the  vessel;  the  engine  which  gave 
them  motion  was  of  great  power,  and  acted  on  machinery 
that  produced  a  horizontal  stroke;  but  notwithstanding 
the  diminution  of  surface  which  was  produced  by  the  con¬ 
formation  of  the  oars,  the  reaction  of  their  being  drawn 
backwards  was  so  great,  that  the  flat  bottomed  vessel 
with  which  the  experiment  was  made,  did  not  move  with 
a  velocity  exceeding  three  miles  an  hour. 

In  the  year  1797  Chancellor  Livingston  made  some  ex¬ 
periments  in  building  a  steam  boat  on  the  Hudson,  with 
the  assistance  of  a  person  of  the  name  of  Nisbet,  who 
came  from  England  for  the  purpose.  Livingston  applied 
to  the  legislature  of  the  state  of  New  York,  for  a  privi¬ 
lege  to  navigate  boats  by  fire  or  steam,  in  order  to  idem- 
nify  him  for  the  great  outlay,  in  case  he  should  be  suc¬ 
cessful.  It  produced  much  merriment  at  the  time  and  was 
considered  the  humbug  of  the  day.  The  idea  of  navigat¬ 
ing  the  Hudson  by  steam  was  treated  as  a  legitimate  sub¬ 
ject  for  ridicule,  and  when  the  members  were  in  a  humor¬ 
ous  mood  they  would  call  up  the  steam  boat  bill,  that 
they  might  divert  themselves  at  the  expense  of  the  pro¬ 
ject  and  its  advocates.  A  bill  was  passed,  however* 
granting  him  the  privileges  he  asked,  on  condition  that 
he  produced  a  vessel  within  a  year  whose  progress 
should  not  be  less  than  four  miles  an  hour.  The  experi¬ 
mental  boat  of  thirty  tons  burden,  propelled  by  a  steam 
engine,  being  on  trial  found  incompetent  to  fulfill  the  con¬ 
dition  of  the  grant,  it  became  obsolete,  and  Livingston 
gave  up  the  project. 

In  the  mean  time  the  ingenious  Oliver  Evans,  whom  un¬ 
toward  circumstances  prevented  from  carrying  his  plan 
into  effect  until  1804,  produced  a  practicable  steam  boat. 
While  an  apprentice  he  had  conceived  the  idea  of  pro¬ 
ducing  power  from  steam,  being  entirely  ignorant  that  any 
experiments  had  ever  been  made  on  the  subject.  After 
laboring  some  time  without  success  to  apply  the  power, 
he  met  with  a  work  describing  the  old  atmospheric  en¬ 
gine,  and  was  astonished  to  observe  that  they  had  so  far 


Steam  Navigation  on  the  Hudson.  13 

erred  as  to  use  the  steam  only  to  form  a  vacuum ;  to  ap¬ 
ply  the  mere  pressure  of  the  atmosphere,  instead  of  ap¬ 
plying  the  elastic  power  of  the  steam  for  original  motion; 
a  power  which  he  supposed  was  irresistible.  In  1786,  he 
had  so  far  satisfied  himself  of  the  feasibility  of  his  plans, 
as  to  be  induced  to  apply  to  the  legislature  of  Pennsyl¬ 
vania  for  the  exclusive  right  to  use  his  improvements  -in 
flour  mills  and  steam  wagons  in  that  state.  The  com¬ 
mittee,  he  says,  heard  him  very  patiently  while  he  de¬ 
scribed  the  mill  improvements,  but  his  representations 
concerning  steam  wagons  made  them  think  him  insane. 
They  protected  the  mill  improvements,  but  took  no  notice 
of  the  steam  wagons.  He  endeavored  during  several 
years  to  find  some  one  to  furnish  capital  to  build  a  steam 
wagon,  showing  his  models  and  drawings,  and  explain¬ 
ing  his  views  of  steam ;  but  could  find  no  one  who  would 
risk  the  experiment;  indeed  very  few  could  understand 
his  principles.  At  length,  in  1804,  the  board  of  health 
of  Philadelphia  ordered  him  to  build  a  machine  for  clean¬ 
ing  docks.  This  presented  him  an  opportunity  to  show 
that  his  engine  could  propel  both  land  and  water  car¬ 
riages.  When  the  work  was  done,  it  consisted  of  a  large 
scow,  with  an  engine  of  five  horse,  power  on  board,  to 
work  the  machinery  to  raise  the  mud  into  lighters. 
Wheels  were  put  under  this  with  wooden  axles;  and 
though  the  weight  was  equal  to  two  hundred  barrels  of 
flour,  and  the  whole  prepared  for  this  temporary  purpose, 
and  attended  with  great  friction,  the  burden  was  trans¬ 
ported  to  the  Schuylkill,  one  mile  and  a  half,  with  ease. 
Here  a  paddle  wheel  was  fixed  at  the  stern,  and  it  was 
taken  down  the  river  to  the  Delaware,  and  up  that  river 
to  the  city.  Evans,  who  was  a  clever  man  with  a  plain 
name,  considering  that  a  sounding  cognomen  would  do 
no  harm  to  a  simple  machine,  christened  his  mud  scraper 
the  Oruktor  Amphibolos.  She  was  thirty  feet  long  and 
twelve  broad,  with  a  chain  of  buckets  to  bring  up 
the  mud,  and  drew  nineteen  inches  of  water,  The  ex¬ 
hibition  was  sufficient  to  show  that  it  was  practicable 
to  navigate  the  river  by  steam,  but  the  time  for  it  had 
not  yet  come,  His  engine  wus  on  the  high  pressure 


14  Steam  Navigation  on  the  Hudson. 

principle,  of  a  construction  different  from  any  other  at 
that  time  known 

A  Mr.  Samuel  Jackson  who  lived  on  the  Mississippi, 
vmet  with  Evans  about  the  year  1785,  and  in  a  subse¬ 
quent  correspondence  declared  that  at  that  time  Evans 
had  described  to  him  the  principles  of  the  steam  engine, 
and  also  explained  to  him  his  plan  for  propelling  boats 
with  paddle  wheels,  describing  the  very  hind  of  wheels  now 
used  for  this  purpose;  and  that  he  then  declared  his  in¬ 
tention  of  applying  his  engine  to  this  particular  object ,  as 
soon  as  his  pecuniary  circumstances  would  permit!  Un¬ 
fortunately,  Evans  never  found  a  capitalist  to  assist  his 
experiments,  as  was  the  case  with  Watt  and  Fulton. 

Evans  too  had  rivals  to  dispute  even  his  secondary 
claims  to  invention.  A  Mr.  John  Stevens  of  Hoboken 
had  been  some  time  occupied  in  making  experiments  to 
apply  steam  of  a  high  temperature,  by  generating  it  in 
a  boiler  formed  of  copper  tubes,  each  about  one  inch  in 
diameter,  and  two  feet  long,  inserted  at  each  end  into  a 
brass  plate;  these  plates  were  closed  at  each  end  of  the 
pipes  by  a  strong  cap  of  cast  iron  or  brass,  leaving  the 
space  of  an  inch  or  two  between  the  plates.  The  ne¬ 
cessary  supply  of  water  was  ejected  by  means  of  a  for¬ 
cing  pump  at  one  end:  one  of  these  boilers,  six  feet  long, 
two  feet  deep  and  four  feet  wide,  exposed  four  hundred 
feet  of  surface  in  the  most  advantageous  manner  to  the 
fire.  Stevens  said  his  object  was  to  form  a  machine 
adapted  more  immediately  to  the  propelling  of  a  boat. 
He  procured  one  of  Watt's  engines,  and  in  May  1804  made 
an  experiment  with  a  boat  twenty-five  feet  long  and  five 
wide.  It  had  the  velocity  of  four  miles  an  hour;  and 
after  repeated  trials,  his  son  undertook  to  cross  in  her 
from  Hoboken  to  New  York;  but  unfortunately  when  the 
boat  had  nearly  reached  the  warf,  the  steam  pipe  gave 
way,  having  been  put  on  with  soft  solder.  This  boiler 
being  damaged  the  next  one  was  constructed  with  tub  s 
placed  vertically.  The  engine  wras  kept  agoing  a  few 
weeks,  making  excursions  of  two  or  three  miles  up  and 
down  the  river;  for  a  short  distance  he  could  sail  it  at 
the  rate  of  about  seven  miles  an  hour. 


15 


Steam  Navigation  on  the  Hudson. 

Stevens  went  no  further  with  his  experiment,  and 
Evans  also  stopped  with  this  exhibition.  In  discussing 
their  claims,  Evans  declared,  that  he  had  spent  two 
thousand  dollars  on  his  project;  Stevens  lamented  that 
he  had  been  “  twenty  years  of  his  life  on  his,  arid  spent 
twenty  thousand  dollars,  without  deriving  a  shilling  bene¬ 
fit.  ”  Stevens  thought  some  of  Evans’s  projects  absurd: 
Evans  retorted,  “that  the  colonel’s  setting  himself  up  as 
an  obstacle  to  his  improvements,  had  done  more  to 
perpetuate  his  (the  colonel's)  memory  than  his  twenty 
years’  hard  work,  and  the  loss  of  his  twenty  thousand 
dollars.”  Be  that  as  it  may,  although  in  their  lives  their 
schemes  were  opposed,  our  respect  to  their  memories 
shall  not  be  divided,  and  they  shall  together  enjoy  all 
the  immortality  which  our  brief  notice  can  confer  upon 
them. 


SUCCESSFUL  EXPERIMENT  ON  THE  HUDSON. 

The  next  attempt  to  construct  a  steam  boat  was 
successfully  made  by  Fulton.  In  the  course  of  his  long 
residence  abroad  he  had  turned  his  attention  to  this  sub¬ 
ject,  and  gathered  drawings  and  descriptions  of  all  the 
contrivances  of  his  predecessors.  At  Paris  he  met  with 
Mr.  Robert  Livingston,  who  has  been  before  mentioned, 
and  it  was  agreed  between  them  to  embark  in  the  enter¬ 
prise.  Fulton  accordingly  began  a  course  of  experiments 
on  a  small  stream,  with  a  set  of  models  he  had  construct¬ 
ed  for  the  purpose;  the  results  of  which  gave  him  strong 
assurance  of  success.  During  the  time  Fulton  was  en¬ 
gaged  in  these  experiments,  a  Mons.  des  Blanes,  who  had 
made  experiments  with  a  boat  on  the  Soane,  deposited 
a  model  of  his  apparatus  in  the  Repository  of  Machines 
at  Paris.  In  this  he  used  a  horizontal  cylinder,  by  which 
endless  chains,  with  resisting  boards  on  them,  were  to  be 
worked  from  stem  to  stern  along  side  of  the  vessel. 
Being  satisfied  with  the  results  of  his  experiments,  he  re¬ 
solved  to  try  them  on  a  large  scale,  and  commenced 
building  a  boat  for  the  purpose  on  the  Seine.  During 
the  construction  of  this  vessel  Des  Blanes  called  the  public 


16  Steam  Navigation  on  the  Hudson. 

attention  to  Fulton’s  operations  as  an  invasion  of  his 
patent,  and  addressed  a  remonstrance  to  Fulton  himself 
on  the  subject.  In  reply  Fulton  explained  that  his  boat 
was  to  be  propelled  by  wheels,  not  by  chains.  Fulton's 
boat  was  completed  early  in  the  spring  of  1803.  and  in 
August  the  experiment  was  made  before  a  great  con¬ 
course  of  spectators;  and  its  success  was  such  as  to  in¬ 
duce  him  to  order  an  engine  of  Watt  &  Bolton  to  be  sent 
to  New  York,  to  which  place  he  prepared  to  return  in 
order  to  introduce  his  invention  on  the  American  wraters. 
During  the  building  of  the  engine  he  visited  Scotland 
and  inspected  Symington’s  steam  boat  on  the  Forth  and 
Clyde  canal. 

Mr.  Livingston,*  who  was  engaged  with  Fulton  in  these 
experiments  at  Paris,  wrote  immediately  after  this  expe¬ 
riment  to  his  friends  in  this  country,  and  through  their 
interference,  an  act  was  passed  by  the  legislature  of  the 
state  of  New-York,  on  the  fifth  of  April,  eighteen  hund¬ 
red  and  three,  by  which  the  rights  and  exclusive  privi¬ 
leges  of  navigating  all  the  waters  of  this  state,  by  vessels 
propelled  by  fire  or  steam,  granted  to  Mr.  Livingston  by 
the  act  of  seventeen  hundred  and  ninety-eight,  were  ex¬ 
tended  to  Mr.  Livingston  and  Mr.  Fulton  for  the  term  of 
twenty  years  from  the  date  of  the  new  act.  By  this  law, 
the  time  for  producing  proof  of  the  practicability  of  pro¬ 
pelling  by  steam  a  boat  of  twenty  tons  capacity,  at  the 
rate  of  four  miles  an  hour,  w7ith  and  against  the  ordinary 
current  of  the  Hudson,  wras  extended  two  years.  And 
by  a  subsequent  law,  the  time  wTas  enlarged  to  April, 
eighteen  hundred  and  seven. 

Very  soon  after  Mr.  Fulton’s  arrival  in  this  city,  he 
commenced  building  his  first  American  boat:  while  she 
was  constructing,  he  found  that  her  expenses  would 
greatly  exceed  his  calculation.  He  endeavored  to  lessen 
the  pressure  on  his  own  finances,  by  offering  one-third 
of  the  exclusive  right  wdiich  was  secured  to  him  and  Mr. 
Livingston  by  the  laws  of  New  York,  and  of  his  patent 
rights,  for  a  proportionate  contribution  to  the  expense. 

^Colden’s  Life  of  Fulton,  p.  165,  et  seq. 


Steam  Navigation  on  the  Hudson ,  17 

He  made  this  offer  to  several  gentlemen,  and  it  was  very 
generally  known  that  he  had  made  such  propositions; 
but  no  one  was  then  willing  to  afford  this  aid  to  his  en¬ 
terprise;  although,  afterwards,  so  many  eagerly  grasped 
at  his  profits,  and,  with  little  principle  and  little  con¬ 
science,  endeavored  to  rob  his  children  of  the  only 
patrimony  he  had  left  them. 

In  the  spring  of  eighteen  hundred  and  seven,  the  first 
Fulton  boat,  built  in  this  country,  was  launched  from 
the  ship  yards  of  Charles  Brown,  on  the  East  river. 
The  engine  from  England  was  put  on  board  of  her;  in 
August  she  was  completed,  and  was  moved  by  her  ma¬ 
chinery  frorii  her  berthplace  to  the  Jersey  shore. 

Mr.  Livingston  and  Mr.  Fulton  had  invited  their 
friends  to  witness  the  trial.  Nothing  could  exceed  the  sur¬ 
prise  and  admiration  of  all  who  witnessed  the  experi¬ 
ment.  The  minds  of  the  most  incredulous  were  changed 
in  a  few  minutes.  Before  the  boat  had  made  the  pro¬ 
gress  of  a  quarter  of  a  mile,  the  greatest  unbeliever  must 
have  been  converted.  The  man  who,  while  he  looked 
on  the  expensive  machine,  thanked  his  stars  that  he  had 
more  wisdom  than  to  waste  his  money  on  such  idle 
schemes,  changed  the  expression  of  his  features  as  the 
boat  moved  from  the  wharf  and  gained  her  speed ;  his 
complacent  smile  gradually  stiffened  into  an  expression 
of  wonder.  The  jeers  of  the  ignorant,  who  had  neither 
sense  nor  feeling  enough  to  suppress  their  contemptuous 
ridicule  and  rude  jokes,  were  silenced  for  a  moment  by  a 
vulgar  astonishment,  which  deprived  them  of  the  power 
of  utterance,  till  the  triumph  of  genius  extorted  from  the 
incredulous  multitude  which  crowded  the  shores,  shouts 
and  acclamations  of  congratulation  and  applause. 

The  boat  had  not  been  long  under  wajr,  when  Fulton 
ordered  her  engine  to  be  stopped.  Though  her  perform¬ 
ance  so  far  exceeded  the  expectations  of  every  other  per¬ 
son,  and  no  one  but  himself  thought  she  could  be  im¬ 
proved,  he  immediately  perceived  that  there  was  an  error 
in  the  construction  of  her  water-wheels.  He  had  their 
diameter  lessened,  so  that  the  buckets  took  less  hold  of 
the  water,  and  when  they  were  again  put  in  motion,  it 


18  Steam  Navigation  on  the  Hudson . 

was  manifest  that  the  alteration  had  increased  the  speed 
of  the  boat.  It  may  well  be  said,  that  the  man  of  genius 
and  knowledge  has  a  sense  beyond  those  which  are  com¬ 
mon  to  others,  or  that  he  sees  with  different  eyes.  How 
many  would  have  gazed  on  these  ill-proportioned  wheels, 
without  perceiving  that  they  were  imperfect. 

This  boat,  which  was  called  the  Clermont,  soon  after 
sailed  from  a  dock  near  the  state  prison,  for  Albany. 
It  is  announced  in  the  newspapers  of  that  date,  that  the 
boat  built  by  Messrs.  Livingston  and  Fulton,  with  a  view 
to  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  river,  from  New 
Orleans  upwards,  would  depart  for  Albany  in  the  after¬ 
noon.  Indeed,  this  was  according  to  the  general  im¬ 
pression  at  the  time.  For  though  the  performance  of 
this  boat  had  been  witnessed  in  the  harbor,  yet  it  was 
not  conceived  that  steam  boats  could  be  employed  as 
packet  boats  between  New  York  and  Albany.  It  is  proba¬ 
ble  that  the  present  success  of  this  mode  of  navigation, 
exceeds  what  was  the  expectation  of  Mr.  Fulton  himself. 
For  though,  from  the  calculations  made  by  him  in  Paris, 
he  concluded  that  a  steam  boat  might  be  made  to  run 
with  a  speed  exceeding  what  had  yet  been  attained,  yet 
the  experiment  in  France,  and  the  velocity  of  the  Cler¬ 
mont,  fell  so  far  short  of  his  estimates,  that  it  is  very 
probable  he  may  have  had  doubts,  after  she  was  put  in 
operation,  as  to  the  entire  accuracy  of  his  calculations. 
But  every  successive  experiment  showed  him,  that  there 
were  faults  in  the  fabrication  of  his  machinery,  and  not 
in  his  calculations. 

From  the  time  the  first  boat  was  put  in  motion  till  the 
death  of  Mr.  Fulton,  the  art  of  navigating  by  steam  was 
fast  advancing  to  that  perfection  of  which  he  believed  it 
capable:  for  some  time  the  boat  performed  each  succes¬ 
sive  passage  with  increased  speed,  and  every  year  im¬ 
provements  were  made.  The  last  boat  built  by  him  was 
invariably  the  best,  the  most  convenient,  and  the  swift¬ 
est. 

The  Clermont  on  her  first  voyage  arrived  at  her  desti¬ 
nation  without  any  accident.  She  excited  the  astonish¬ 
ment  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  shores  of  the  Hudson 


Steam  Navigation  on  the  Hudson.  19 

many  of  whom  had  not  heard  even  of  an  engine,  much 
less  of  a  steam  boat.  There  were  many  descriptions  of 
the  effects  of  her  first  appearance  upon  the  people  of  the 
banks  of  the  river:  some  of  these  were  ridiculous,  but 
some  of  them  were  of  such  a  character,  as  nothing  but 
an  object  of  real  grandeur  could  have  excited.  She  was 
described  by  some  who  had  indistinctly  seen  her  passing 
in  the  night,  to  those  who  had  not  had  a  view  of  her,  as 
a  monster  moving  on  the  waters,  defying  the  winds  and 
tide,  and  breathing  flames  and  smoke. 

She  had  the  most  terrific  appearance,  from  other  ves¬ 
sels  which  were  navigating  the  river,  when  she  was 
making  her  passage.  The  first  steam  boats,  as  others 
yet  do,  used  dry  pine  wood  for  fuel,  which  sends  forth  a 
column  of  ignited  vapor  many  feet  above  the  flue,  and, 
whenever  the  fire  is  stirred,  a  galaxy  of  sparks  fly  off, 
and  in  the  night  have  a  very  brilliant  and  beautiful  ap¬ 
pearance.  This  uncommon  light  first  attracted  the  at¬ 
tention  of  the  crews  of  other  vessels.  Notwithstanding 
the  wind  and  tide  were  adverse  to  its  approach,  they 
saw  with  astonishment  that  it  was  rapidly  coming  to¬ 
wards  them;  and  when  it  came  so  near  as  that  the  noise 
of  the  machinery  and  paddles  were  heard,  the  crews  (if 
what  was  said  in  the  newspapers  of  the  time  be  true)  in 
some  instances  shrunk  beneath  their  decks  from  the 
terrific  sight,  and  left  their  vessels  to  go  on  shore,  while 
others  prostrated  themselves,  and  besought  Providence 
to  protect  them  from  the  approaches  of  the  horrible 
monster,  which  was  marching  on  the  tides  and  lighting 
its  path  by  the  fires  which  it  vomited. 

Mr.  Fulton  was  himself  a  passenger  on  this  voyage, 
and  upon  his  return  published  an  account  of  it,  which 
deserves  to  be  preserved.  It  is  as  follows: 

“  To  the  Editor  of  the  American  Citizen: 

“Sir,  I  arrived  this  afternoon,  at  four  o’clock,  in  the 
steam  boat  from  Albany.  As  the  success  of  my  experi¬ 
ment  gives  me  great  hopes  that  such  boats  may  be 
rendered  of  great  importance  to  my  country,  to  prevent 
erroneous  opinions,  and  give  some  satisfaction  to  the 

[ Annals ,  vi.]  3 


20 


Steam  Navigation  on  the  Hudson. 

friends  of  useful  improvements,  you  will  have  the  good¬ 
ness  to  publish  the  following  statement  of  facts. 

“  I  left  New  York,  on  Monday,  at  one  o’clock,  and 
arrived  at  Clermont,  the  seat  of  Chancellor  Livingston, 
at  one  o’clock  on  Tuesday — time  twenty-four  hours — 
distance  one  hundred  and  ten  miles.  On  Wednesday  I 
departed  from  the  Chancellor’s,  at  nine  in  the  morning, 
and  arrived  at  Albany  at  five  in  the  afternoon — distance 
forty  miles — time  eight  hours.  The  sum  is  one  hundred 
and  fifty  miles  in  thirty-two  hours — equal  to  near  five 
miles  an  hour. 

“  On  Thursday,  at  nine  o’clock  in  the  morning,  I  left 
Albany,  and  arrived  at  the  Chancellor’s  at  six  in  the 
evening:  I  started  from  thence  at  seven,  and  arrived  in 
New  York  at  four  in  the  afternoon — time  thirty  hours — 
space  run  through  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles — equal  to 
five  miles  an  hour.  Throughout  my  whole  way,  both 
going  and  returning,  the  wind  was  ahead:  no  advantage 
could  be  derived  from  my  sails:  the  whole  has  therefore 
been  performed  by  the  power  of  the  steam-engine. 

“I  am,  sir,  your  obedient  serv't,  Robert  Fulton.” 

He  gives  the  following  account  of  the  same  voyage  in 
a  letter  to  his  friend,  Mr.  Barlow: 

“  My  steamboat  voyage,  to  Albany  and  back,  has 
turned  out  rather  more  favorable  than  I  had  calculated. 
The  distance  from  New-York  to  Albany  is  one  hundred 
and  fifty  miles:  I  ran  it  up  in  thirty-two  hours,  and 
down  in  thirty.  I  had  a  light  breeze  against  me  the 
whole  way,  both  going  and  coming,  and  the  voyage  has 
been  performed  wholly  by  the  power  of  the  steam-engine. 

I  overtook  many  sloops  and  schooners  beating  to  wind¬ 
ward,  and  parted  with  them  as  if  they  had  been  at  anchor. 

“  The  power  of  propelling  boats  by  steam  is  now  fully 
proved.  The  morning  I  left  New-York,  there  were  not 
perhaps  thirty  persons  in  the  city,  who  believed  that  the 
boat  would  ever  move  one  mile  an  hour,  or  be  of  the 
least  utility;  and  while  we  were  putting  off  from  the 
wharf,  which  was  crowded  with  spectators,  I  heard  a 
number  of  sarcastic  remarks.  This  is  the  way  in  which 


Steam  Navigation  on  the  Hudson.  21 

ignorant  men  compliment  what  they  call  philosophers  and 
projectors. 

“  Having  employed  much  time,  money,  and  zeal,  in 
accomplishing  this  work,  it  gives  me,  as  it  will  you,  great 
pleasure  to  see  it  fully  answer  my  expectations.  It  will 
give  a  cheap  and  quick  conveyance  to  the  merchandise 
on  the  Mississippi,  Missouri,  and  other  great  rivers, 
which  are  now  laying  open  their  treasures  to  the  enter¬ 
prise  of  our  countrymen:  and  although  the  prospect  of 
personal  emolument  has  been  some  inducement  to  me, 
yet  I  feel  infinitely  more  pleasure,  in  reflecting  on  the 
immense  advantage  that  my  country  will  derive  from  the 
invention.” 

Soon  after  this  successful  voyage,  the  Hudson  boat 
was  advertised  and  established  as  a  regular  passage  boat 
between  New  York  and  Albany.  She,  however,  in  the 
course  of  the  season,  met  with  several  accidents;  so 
manv,  that  those  who  had  been  forced  to  believe  that  she 
would  succeed,  began  to  return  to  their  former  increduli¬ 
ty.  It  was  not  wonderful  that  this  first  machine  should 
have  many  imperfections;  the  greatest  of  which  was, 
having  her  water-wheel  shafts  of  cast  iron,  which  was 
insufficient  to  sustain  the  great  power  applied  to  them. 
The  wheels  also  were  hung  without  any  support  for  the 
outward  end  of  the  shaft,  which  is  now  supplied  by  what 
are  called  the  wheel  guards.  It  was  obvious  that  the 
wheels  were  likely  to  give  way  for  want  of  this  simple 
addition.  No  one  could  have  seen  the  operation  of  the 
boat  without  perceiving  that  this  was  a  defect,  and  the 
remedy  must  immediately  have  suggested  itself  to  any 
mechanic;  yet  many  have  claimed  the  invention  of  this 
improvement,  and  have  really  seemed  to  think  it  more 
merit  rious  than  all  Mr.  Fulton  had  done. — C olden. 

Mr.  Colden  gives  but  a  part  of  Fulton’s  letter  to  Mr. 
Barlow.  We  subjoin  the  remainder,  to  show  the  zeal 
with  which  he  pursued  another  scheme,  which  he  erro¬ 
neously  regarded  as  of  more  importance  than  steam  boats. 

“  However,  I  will  not  admit  that  it  is  half  so  import¬ 
ant  as  the  torpedo  system  of  defence  and  attack:  for  out 


22 


Steam  Navigation  on  the  Hudson. 

of  this  will  grow  the  liberty  of  the  seas;  an  object  of 
infinite  importance  to  the  welfare  of  America  and  every 
civilized  country.  But  thousands  of  witnesses  have  seen 
my  steam  boat  in  rapid  movement,  and  they  believe:  they 
have  not  seen  a  ship  of  war  destroyed  by  a  torpedo,  and 
they  do  not  believe.  We  can  not  expect  people  in  gene¬ 
ral  will  have  a  knowledge  of  physics,  or  power  of  mind 
sufficient  to  combine  ideas,  and  reason  from  causes  to 
effects.  But  in  case  we  have  war,  and  the  enemy’s  ships 
come  into  our  waters  if  the  government  will  give  me 
reasonable  means  of  action,  I  will  soon  convince  the 
world,  that  we  have  surer  and  cheaper  modes  of  defense 
than  they  are  aware  of. 

Yours,  &c.,  Robert  Fulton.” 

The  reader  will  not  fail  to  remark  the  enthusiasm  and 
confidence  with  which  Mr.  Fulton  speaks  of  the  torpedo 
invention,  and  the  superiority  which  he  awards  to  it  over 
his  successful  test  of  the  power  of  propelling  boats  by 
steam.  This  was  undoubtedly  the  combined  result  of 
patriotic  and  inventive  enthusiasm,  if  we  may  so  describe 
it.  The  “liberty  of  the  seas”  and  our  national  rights, 
then  invaded  by  a  naval  power  and  prowess  deemed  to  be 
impregnable  through  ordinary  means,  were  objects  of  the 
highest  solicitude  to  every  lover  of  his  country ;  and  to 
none  more  so  than  to  him,  who  had  devoted  all  his  facul¬ 
ties  to  discoveries  and  inventions  designed  not  only  to 
facilitate  the  intercourse  and  promote  the  happiness  of 
mankind,  but  to  recover  and  establish  the  “liberty  of  the 
seas”  and  the  rights  of  the  feeble  against  the  encroach¬ 
ments  of  the  powerful.  But  how  vast  the  change  since 
the  hand  of  Fulton  penned  this  brief  but  significant  epis¬ 
tle!  The  “torpedo  system”  expired  with  its  author — too 
soon,  alas,  cut  off  from  a  world  he  had  so  much  benefit- 
ted!  With  it,  “the  liberty  of  the  seas”  has  been  con¬ 
quered  mainly  by  what  was  then  among  the  weakest  of 
the  maritime  nations.  And  the  mighty  agent  steam,  then 
regarded  by  the  great  projector  as  secondary,  traversing 
the  world,  has  wrought  revolutions  more  extended  and 
more  important  than  could  have  been  conceived  by  the 
most  farseeing  and  enthusiastic. — Albany  Argus. 


Steam  Navigation  on  the  Hudson. 


2$ 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FULTON’S  FIRST  VOYAGE. 

The  following  account  of  the  first  trip  of  the  Clermont 
was  furnished  by  John  Q.  Wilson,  Esq.,  who  is  the  only 
survivor  of  the  twenty  four  passengers  that  accompanied 
Fulton  on  that  memorable  occasion;  an  occasion  sur¬ 
passing  in  its  importance  to  the  world,  the  voyage  of 
Hudson,  and  second  only  to  that  of  Columbus  in  its 
effect  upon  posterity. 

The  narrative  of  Judge  Wilson  is  as  follows: 

It  may  be  of  some  interest  to  the  present  generation 
to  have  a  correct  account  of  the  first  boat  built  by  Fulton 
and  Livingston,  on  her  first  trip  as  a  passage  vessel,  by 
one  who  was  then  a  passenger. 

The  writer  of  this  article  resided  in  New  York,  and 
was  often  in  the  ship  yard  when  Mr.  Fulton  was  build¬ 
ing  his  first  boat.  She  was  a  queer  looking  craft,  and 
like  every  new  thing  excited  much  attention,  and  not  a 
little  ridicule.  When  she  was  launched  and  the  steam 
engine  placed  in  her,  that  also  was  looked  upon  of  a 
piece  with  the  boat  built  to  float  it.  In  those  days,  the 
operations  of  the  steam  engine  were  but  little  known.  A 
few  had  seen  the  one  for  raising  the  Manhattan  water, 
but  to  the  people  at  large  the  thing  was  a  hidden  mys¬ 
tery.  Curiosity  was  now  greatly  excited;  when  it  was 
announced  in  the  New  York  papers,  that  the  boat  would 
start  from  the  foot  of  Courtland  Street  at  half  past  six 
o’clock  on  Friday  morning,  the  4th  of  September,  and 
take  passengers  to  Albany,  there  was  a  broad  smile  on 
every  face,  as  the  inquiry  was  made  if  any  one  would  be 
fool-hardy  enough  to  go.  A  friend  of  the  writer  of  this 
article,  hearing  that  he  intended  to  venture,  accosted  him 
in  the  street:  “John,  will  thee  risk  thy  life  in  such  a  con¬ 
cern?  I  tell  thee  she  is  the  most  fearful  wild  fowl  living, 
and  thy  father  ought  to  restrain  thee.” 

When  Friday  morning  came,  the  wharves,  piers, 
house-tops,  and  every  “  coigne  of  vantage”  from  which 
a  sight  could  be  obtained,  were  filled  with  spectators. 
There  were  twelve  berths,  and  every  one  was  taken. 
The  fare  was  $7.  All  the  machinery  of  the  boat  was 


24  Steam  Navigation  on  the  Hudson. 

fully  exposed  to  view;  the  water  and  balance  wheels 
were  entirely  uncovered;  the  periphery  of  the  balance 
wheels  was  of  cast  iron  some  four  inches  or  more  square, 
and  ran  just  clear  of  the  water.  The  weight  of  both 
the  water  and  balance  wheels  was  sustained  by  the  shafts, 
which  projected  over  the  sides  of  the  vessel.  There 
W'ere  no  outside  guards.  The  forward  part  of  the  boat 
was  covered  by  a  deck,  which  afforded  shelter  for  the 
men  employed  in  navigating  the  boat.  The  after  part 
was  fitted  up  in  a 'rough  manner  for  passengers;  the  en- 
trance  into  the  cabin  was  from  the  stern,  in  front  of  the 
steersman,  who  worked  a  tiller  the  same  as  in  an  ordinary 
sloop.  Thick,  black  smoke  issued  from  the  chimney, 
steam  hissed  from  every  ill  fitted  valve  and  crevice  of  the 
engine.  Fulton  himself  was  there;  his  remarkably  clear 
and  sharp  voice  was  heard  above  the  hum  of  the  multi¬ 
tude  and  the  noise  of  the  engine.  All  his  actions  were 
confident  and  decided,  unheeding  the  fearfulness  of  some, 
and  the  doubts  and  sarcasms  of  others.  In  the  whole 
scene  combined,  there  was  an  individuality  and  an  in¬ 
terest,  which,  like  “love’s  young  dream,”  comes  but 
once,  and  is  remembered  forever. 

The  time  set  for  the  departure  of  the  boat  arrived, 
some  of  the  machinery  still  requiring  to  be  adjusted, 
there  was  a  delay.  Some  of  the  passengers  said  in 
Fulton's  hearing,  they  feared  that  the  voyage  would  prove 
a  failure.  He  replied,  ‘‘gentlemen,  you  need  not  be  un¬ 
easy;  you  shall  be  in  Albany  before  twelve  o’clock  to¬ 
morrow.” 

When  every  thing  was  ready,  the  engine  was  started, 
the  boat  moved  steadily,  but  slowly  from  the  wharf.  As 
she  turned  up.the  river  and  was  fairly  under  weigh,  there 
arose  such  a  huzza  as  ten  thousand  throats  never  gave 
before.  The  passengers  returned  the  cheer,  but  Fulton 
stood  erect  upon  the  deck,  his  eye  flashed  with  an  un¬ 
earthly  brilliancy,  as  he  surveyed  the  crowd.  He  felt 
that  the  magic  wand  of  success  was  waving  over  him, 
and  he  was  silent. 

It  was  agreed  that  a  kind  of  log  book  should  be  kept; 
Gerrit  H.  Van  Wagenen  was  designated  to  give  the  time, 


25 


Steam  Navigation  on  the  Hudson . 


and  the  writer  of  this  article  to  set  it  down.  At  the 
termination  of  the  voyage  the  following  paper  was  drawn 
up  and  signed  by  all  the  passengers,  and  published  in  the 
Albany  Register  of  Tuesday,  Sept.  8,  1807, 


On  Friday  morning  at  18  minutes  before  7  o’clock,  the  north 
river  steam  boat  left  New  York;  landed  one  passenger  at  'Tarry- 
town  (25  miles),  and  arrived  at  Newburgh  (68  miles)  at  4  o’clock 
in  the  afternoon;  landed  one  passenger  there,  and  arrived  at 
Clermont  (100  miles),  where  two  passengers,  one  of  whom  was 
Mr.  Fulton,  were  landed  at  15  minutes  before  2  o’clock  in  the 
morning;  and  arrived  at  Albany  at  27  minutes  past  11  o’clock, 
making  the  whole  time  iwentv-eight  hours  and  forty-five  minutes ; 
distance  150  miles. 

The  wind  was  favorable,  but  light  from  Verplank’s  point  to 
Wappinger’s  creek  (40  miles);  the  remainder  of  the  way  it  was 
ahead,  or  there  was  a  dead  calm. 

The  subscribers,  passengers  on  board  of  this  boat,  on  her 
first  passage  as  a  packet,  think  it  hut  justice  to  state,  that  the  ac¬ 
commodations  and  conveniences  on  board  exceeded  their  most 
sanguine  expectations. 

Selali  Strong, 

G.  H.  Van  Wagenen, 

Thomas  Wallace, 

John  Q.  Wilson, 

John  P.  Anthony, 

Dennis  H.  Doyle, 

Albany,  Sept.  5,  1807. 


George  Wetmore, 
William  S.  Hicks, 
J.  Bowman, 

J.  Crane, 

James  Braiden, 
Stephen  N.  liowan, 


When  coming  up  Haverstraw  bay,  a  man  in  a  skiff  lay 
waiting  for  us.  His  appearance  indicated  a  miller;  the 
paddle  wheels  had  very  naturally  attracted  his  attention; 
he  asked  permission  to  come  on  board.  Fulton  ordered 
a  line  to  be  thrown  to  him,  and  he  was  drawn  alongside. 
He  said  he  “did  not  know  about  a  mill  going  up  stream, 
and  came  to  inquire  about  it,”  Ope  of  the  passengers, 
an  Irishman,  seeing  through  the  simple  minded  miller  at 
a  glance,  became  his  Cicerone;  showed  him  all  the  ma-» 
chineryr,  and  the  contrivances  by  which  one  wheel  could 
be  thrown  out  of  geer  when  the  mill  was  required  to 
come  about,  after  finishing  the  examination,  said  he, 
**  that  will  do;  now  show  me  the  mill-stones.”  “  0,” 
said  the  other,  “  that  is  a  secret  which  the  master,”  point* 

ing  to  Fultob,  “  has  not  told  us  yet;  but  when  we  come 


26  Steam  Navigation  on  the  Hudson . 

back  frem  Albany  with  a  load  of  corn,  then  if  you  come 
on  board,  you  will  see  the  meal  fly,”  Dennis  kept  his 
countenance  and  the  miller  left. 

As  we  passed  West  Point  the  whole  garrison  was  out, 
and  cheered  us  as  we  passed »  At  Newburgh  it  seemed 
as  if  all  Orange  county  had  collected  there;  the  whole 
side-hill  city  seemed  animated  with  life.  Every  sail  boat 
and  water-craft  was  out;  the  ferry-boat  from  Fishkill 
was  filled  with  ladies;  Fulton  was  engaged  in  seeing  a 
passenger  landed,  and  did  not  observe  the  boat  until  she 
b:>re  up  nearly  alongside.  The  flapping  of  a  sail  arrested 
his  attention,  and,  as  he  turned,  the  waving  of  so  many 
handkerchiefs,  and  the  smiles  of  bright  and  happy  faces, 
struck  him  with  surprise.  He  raised  his  hat,  and  ex¬ 
claimed,  “  that  is  the  finest  sight  we  have  seen  yet.” 

ANOTHER  REMINISCENT.  „ 

A  correspondent  of  the  Buffalo  Commercial  Advertiser 
communicated  the  following  anecdote  of  the  Clermont 
and  her  builder.  There  is  some  discrepancy  about  that 
part  of  it  which  relates  to  the  receipt  by  Fulton  of  the 
first  money;  as  the  passengers  on  the  voyage  up,  we  are 
told  by  Judge  Wilson,  paid  their  fare  to  Fulton  person¬ 
ally.  Therefore,  if  the  statement  is  correct,  the  pas¬ 
senger  must  have  gone  down  on  the  trial  trip,  which  was 
made  in  the  latter  part  of  August,  without  passengers, 
of  which  an  account  has  been  given  on  a  previous  page 
by  Colden  and  the  two  letters  of  Fulton. 

“  Some  twenty  years  since,  more  or  less — for  I  can  not 
fix  the  date  with  more  certainty — -I  formed  a  traveling 
acquaintance,  upon  a  steam  boat  on  the  Hudson  river, 
with  a  gentleman,  who,  on  that  occasion,  related  to  me 
some  incidents  of  the  first  voyage  of  Fulton,  to  Albany, 
in  his  steamboat,  the  Clermont ,  which  I  have  never  met 
with  elsewhere.  The  gentleman's  name  I  have  lost;  but 
I  urged  him,  at  the  time,  to  publish  what  lie  related; 
which,  however,  so  far  as  I  know,  he  has  never  done.  I 
have  several  times  repeated  the  facts  as  they  were  told 
to  me,  and  have  been  often  requested  to  secure  them 
from  oblivion  by  giving  them  to  the  press, 


27 


Steam  Navigation  on  the  Hudson. 

“  I  chanced,  said  my  narrator,  to  be  at  Albany,  on 
business,  when  Fulton  arrived  there,  in  his  unheard  of 
craft,  which  everybody  felt  so  much  interest  in  seeing. 
Being  ready  to  leave,  and  hearing  that  this  craft  w'as  to 
return  to  New  York,  I  repaired  on  board  and  inquired 
for  Mr.  Fulton.  I  was  referred  to  the  cabin,  and  I  there 
found  a  plain,  gentlemanly  man,  wholly  alone,  and  enga¬ 
ged  in  writing.  “Mr.  Fulton,  [  presume?”  “Yes,  sir.” 
“Do  you  return  to  New  York  with  this  boat?”  “We 
shall  try  to  get  back,  sir.”  “Can  I  have  a  passage 
down?”  “You  can  take  your  chance  with  us,  sir.” 
I  inquired  the  amount  to  be  paid,  and  after  a  mo¬ 
ment’s  hesitation  a  sum,  I  think  six  dollars,  was  named. 
The  amount,  in  coin,  I  laid  in  his  open  hand,  and  with 
his  eye  fixed  upon  it  he  remained  so  long  motionless  that 
I  suppossed  there  might  be  a  miscount,  and  said  to  him, 
is  that  right,  sir  ?  This  roused  him  as  from  a  kind  of  re- 
very,  and  as  he  looked  up  at  me  the  big  tear  was  brim¬ 
ming  in  his  eye,  and  his  voice  faltered  as  he  said,  “Ex¬ 
cuse  me,  sir;  but  memory  was  busy  as  I  contemplated 
this,  the  first  pecuniary  reward  I  have  ever  received  for 
all  my  exertions  in  adapting  steam  to  navigation.  I 
would  gladly  commemorate  the  occasion  over  a  bottle  of 
wine  with  you,  but  really  I  am  too  poor,  even  for  that, 
just  now;  yet  I  trust  we  may  meet  again,  when  this  will 
not  be  so.” 

“The  voyage  to  New  York  was  successful,  as  all  know, 
and  terminated  without  accident.  Some  four  years  after 
this,  when  the  Clermont  had  been  greatly  improved,  and 
her  name  changed  to  The  North  River ,  and  when  two 
other  boats,  namely,  The  Car  of  Neptune  and  the  Para¬ 
gon  had  been  built,  making  Mr.  Fulton’s  fleet  three  boats 
regularly  plying  between  New  York  and  Albany,  I  took 
passage  upon  one  of  these  for  the  latter  city.  The  cabin, 
in  that  day,  was  below;  and  as  I  walked  its  length,  to 
and  fro,  I  saw  I  was  very  closely  observed  by  one  I  sup¬ 
posed  a  stranger.  Soon,  howevei,  1  recalled  the  features 
of  Mr.  Fulton;  but,  without  disclosing  this,  I  continued 
my  walk  and  awaited  the  result.  At  length,  in  passing 
his  seat,  our  eyes  met,  when  he  sprang  to  his  feet,  and 


28 


Steam  Navigation  on  the  Hudson . 

eagerly  seizing  my  hand,  exclaimed,  “I  knew  it  must  be 
you,  for  your  features  have  never  escaped  me;  and 
though  I  am  still  far  from  rich,  yet  I  may  venture  that  bot¬ 
tle,  now.”  It  was  ordered,  and  during  its  discussion  Mr. 
Fulton  ran  rapidly  but  vividly  over  his  experience  of  the 
world's  coldness  and  sneers,  and  of  the  hopes,  fears,  dis¬ 
appointments  and  difficulties  that  were  scattered  through 
his  whole  career  of  discovery,  up  to  the  very  point  of  his 
final  crowning  triumph,  at  which  he  so  fully  felt  he  had 
at  last  arrived.  “And  in  reviewing  all  these,”  said  he, 
“  I  have  again  and  again  recalled  the  occasion  and  the  inci¬ 
dent  of  our  first  interview  at  Albany;  and  never  have  I 
done  so  without  its  renewing,  in  my  mind,  the  vivid  emo¬ 
tions  it  originally  caused.  That  seemed,  and  still  does 
seem  to  me,  the  turning  point  in  my  destiny — the  divid¬ 
ing  line  between  light  and  darkness,  in  my  career  upon 
earth;  for  it  was  the  first  actual  recognition  of  my  use¬ 
fulness  to  my  fellow  men.” 

“Such,  then,  were  the  events  coupled  with  the  very 
dawn  of  steam  navigation — a  dawn  so  recent  as  to  be  re¬ 
membered  by  many — and  such  as  Fulton  there  related 
them,  wTere  the  early  appreciations,  by  the  world,  of  a 
discovery  which  has  invaded  all  waters,  causing  a  revolu¬ 
tion  in  navigation  which  has  almost  literally  brought  the 
very  ends  of  the  earth  in  contact.” 

And  thus,  on  the  waters  of  the  Hudson,  was  first  made 
that  successful  experiment  which  resulted  so  gloriously, 
and  which  placed  Fulton  high  on  the  roll  of  fame;  and 
here  was  launched  the  pioneer  of  that  host  of  floating 
palaces  that  now  enliven  every  navigable  river  in  the 
land,  and  plough  the  waters  of  every  sea  that  glitters 
beneath  the  circling  sun. 

The  Clermont  was  100  feet  long,  12  feet  wide,  7  feet 
deep.  In  1808,  she  wTas  lengthened  to  150  feet,  widened 
to  18  feet,  and  had  her  name  changed  to  North  River. 

The  engine  was  constructed  in  England,  by  Watt  & 
Bolton,  and  brought  to  New  York,  December,  1806,  by 
Mr.  Fulton.  The  hull  of  the  boat  wTas  built  by  David 
Brome,  an  eminent  ship  builder  in  New  York. 


Steam  Navigation  on  the  Hudson.  29 

An  account  of  the  progress  of  steam  navigation  on 
this  river,  with  which  our  city  is  so  intimately  identified, 
and  a  history  of  the  boats  themselves,  and  the  experi¬ 
ments  of  the  energetic  men  who  built  and  controlled 
them,  since  the  days  of  Fulton,  would  fill  a  volume. 
Unfortunately  the  materials  are  not  at  hand  from  which 
to  prepare  even  an  article  that  would  be  at  all  complete 
and  satisfactory  on  this  subject.  It  is  to  be  regretted 
that  no  one  familiar  with  the  subject  has  yet  stepped 
forward  to  do  the  work.  To  Robert  L.  Stevens  of  New 
York,  we  are  more  indebted  than  to  any  other  man,  for 
improvements  in  steam  boats.  His  experiments  and  the 
energy  and  untiring  assiduity  with  which  he  prosecuted 
his  plans,  contributed  in  a  great  degree  towards  placing 
the  steamers  of  the  Hudson  first  among  all  others  in  the 
world.  He,  therefore,  it  ma}^  be,  should  have  written 
the  history  of  steam  navigation  on  the  Hudson.  A  re¬ 
cord  of  the  names  and  hour  of  departure  of  all  the  steam 
boats  sailing  from  this  port,  and  the  disasters  on  the  river, 
has  been  kept  in  the  office  of  the  Peoples  Line  in  this 
city,  for  several  years,  which  will  be  serviceable  to  such 
as  may  have  occasion  to  gather  facts.  We  glean  from 
the  papers  of  the  day  a  few  items  of  interest  in  relation 
to  the  first  boats. 


NEWSPAPER  NOTICES. 

The  first  advertisement  of  the  steam  boat  in  the  Albany 
Gazet'e  is  dated  Sept.  2,  1807.  The  time  promised  was 
performed  with  great  punctuality. 

The  North  River  steam  boat  will  leave  Panins  Hook  ferry 
[now  Jersey  city]  on  Friday,  the  4th  of  September,  at  9  in  the 
morning,  and  arrive  at  Albany  on  Saturday,  at  9  in  the  afternoon. 

Provisions,  good  berths  and  accommodations  are  provided. 

The  charge  to  each  passenger  is  as  follows: 


Newbnrg, 

$3 

time  14  hours, 

Poughkeepsie, 

4 

“  17  “ 

Esopns, 

5 

“  20  “ 

Hudson, 

5  ft 

30  “ 

Albany, 

7 

•  “  36  “ 

30 


Steam  Navigation  on  the  Hudson.  ■ 

For  places,  apply  to  Win.  Vandervoort,  No.  48  Courtland  st., 
on  the  corner  of  Greenwich.  Way  passengers  to  Tarrytown, 
&c..  &c.,  will  apply  to  the  Captain  on  board. 

The  steam  boat  will  leave  Albany  on  Monday  the  7th  of 
September  at  9  o’clock  in  the  morning,  and  arrive  at  New  York 
on  Tuesday  at  9  in  the  evening. 

She  will  leave  New  York  on  Wednesday  morning  at  9,  and 
arrive  at  Albany  on  Thursday  at  9  in  the  evening. 

She  will  leave  Albany  on  Friday  morning  at  9,  and  arrive  at 
New  York  on  Saturday  evening  at  9;  thus  performing  two  voy¬ 
ages  from  Albany  and  one  from  New  York  within  the  week. 

On  Monday  the  14th  and  Friday  the  18th,  she  will  leave 
New  York  at  9  in  the  morning,  and  Albany  on  the  1 6th  at  9  in 
the  morning,  after  which  the  arrangements  for  her  departure 
will  he  announced. 

For  passage  apply  at  the  Tontine  Coffee  House,  Stebbins’s 
Stage  House,  or  to  the  Captain  on  board,  where  a  book  will  be 
kept  to  enter  names.” 

True  enough,  the  steam  boat  arrived  as  announced 
above,  and  made  her  landing  at  the  foot  of  Lydius  street. 
The  post  over  which  the  hawser  was  habitually  thrown 
for  several  years  is  now  superseded  by  a  city  lamp  post, 
at  the  steam  boat  landing,  near  the  foot  of  Lydius  street. 
The  city  of  Albany  will  be  subject  to  reproach  till  she 
erects  a  monument  to  Fulton  in  the  Steam  Boat  Square. 
Is  there  one  so  unmindful  of  the  prosperity  that  has 
followed  the  invention  of  steam  navigation,  in  which  as  a 
citizen  of  Albany  he  is  a  participant,  as  to  grudge  his 
mite  to  the  work  ! 

In  a  supplement  to  the  Gazette  of  Sept.  7th,  in  an 
obscure  corner,  is  the  following  notice  of  that  important 
event,  the  arrival  of  the  first  steam  boat: 

This  morning  at  6  o’clock,  Mr  Fulton’s  steam  boat  left  the 
ferry  stairs  at  Courtland  street  dock,  for  Albany.  She  is  to 
make  her  passage  in  -36  hours  from  the  time  of  her  departure, 
touching  at  Newburg,  Poughkeepsie, ‘Esopus  and  Hudson,  on 
her  way.  [The  steam  boat  arrived  at  Albany  on  Saturday  after¬ 
noon,  and  this  morning  at  9  o’clock  again  departed  lor  New- 
York  with  about  forty  ladies  and  gentlemen.] 

Thus  commenced  the  career  of  the  steam  boats,  which 
have  reigned  supreme  over  the  waters  of  the  Hudson 
nearly  fifty  years. 


&  team  Navigation  on  the  Hudson.  31 

But  in  the  same  number  of  the  Gazette,  more  conspicu¬ 
ously  given,  is  the  following  communication  of  some  person 
who  wished  to  detract  from  the  glory  of  the  achievement. 

Messrs.  Printers:— Having  had  a  cursory  view  of  the 
boat,  whose  oars  or  water  wheels,  which  is  the  same 
thing,  are  set  in  motion  by  a  costly  steam  engine,  the 
compound  machinery  of  which  fills  almost  the  whole 
vessel,  I  could  not,  considering  the  expenses  of  its  build¬ 
ing,  the  consumption  of  fuel,  and  the  hands  necessary 
to  work  it,  resist  a  smile,  by  comparing  it  with  the  dis¬ 
covery  of  Mr.  Delatue  d’  Elbeuf,  a  Frenchman,  which 
has  been  published  twenty  years  ago  in  Lichtenbergh’s 
Magazine  of  Physic,  2d  vol.,  second  piece,  Gotha,  1787, 
where  he  describes  very  minutely  the  construction  of  a 
boat  twenty  feet  long,  and  six  feet  wide,  explained  with 
a  copperplate,  which  is  worked  along  with  eight  wheels 
by  four  men;  and  which,  it  is  asserted,  will  make  its 
passage  in  16  or  17  hours,  through  100  French  leagues 
(300  miles)  distance.  The  middle  of  the  boat  is  entirely 
occupied  with  a  stately  room  for  passengers,  and  every 
one  can  see  that  by  making  the  machinery  a  little  more 
compound  it  may  be  worked  along  with  less  hands,  and 
labor,  and  no  danger  whatever  is  therein  to  be  appre- 
hended.  j.  g.  k* 

Albany,  August  22,  1807. 

A  similar  boat  to  the  above  was  built  to  run  between 
Albany  and  Troy,  propelled  by  a  tread- wheel.  A  heavy 
man  was  employed  as  the  motor;  when  he  became  tircdr 
the  passengers  were  invited  to  take  a  turn  at  the 
wheel ! 

The  Clermont  continued  her  trips  with  great  exactitude 
till  the  first  of  October,  on  which  day  it  was  announced  in 
the  New  York  Evening  Post  that  the  steam  boat  had 
arrived  from  Albany  in  twenty  eight  hours ,  with  sixty 
passengers!  The  same  paper  of  the  2d  Oct.  contained 
the  following  notice: 

Mr.  Fulton’s  newly  invented  steam  boat,  which  is  fitted  up  in 
a  neat  style  for  passengers,  and  is  intended  to  run  from  New 
York  to  Albany  as  a  packet^  left  here  this  morning  with  ninety 

[Annals,  vi .]  _  4 


32 


Steam  Navigation  on  the  Hudson , 

passengers  against  a  strong  head  wind,  notwithstanding  which  if 
was  judged  that  she  moved  through  the  water  at  the  rate  of  six 
miles  per  hour. 

Six  miles  an  hour!  What  a  triumph  of  speed!  The 
ninety  passengers  had  a  different  experience  on  that  trip, 
as  we  learn  from  the  Gazette  of  October  6th.  The 
little  Clermont,  which  was  about  as  large  as  a  modern 
canal  boat,  was  subjected  to  a  complication  of  disasters. 

In  consequence  of  the  nonarrival  of  the  steam  boat  at  the  ex¬ 
pected  hour  on  Saturday  evening,  and  the  violent  gale  on  the 
river  the  whole  of  Friday  and  the  night  following,  great  fears 
were  entertained  lest  she  had  met  with  some  accident;  and  ajs 
the  whole  of  Sunday  passed  away  without  her  arrival  or  any 
tidings  of  her,  those  fears  were  almost  converted  into  realities 
of  some  fatal  disaster.  At  JO  o’clock  last  evening,  however,  all 
apprehension  was  removed  by  her  safe  arrival;  and  the  follow¬ 
ing  communication  from  a  number  of  respectable  gentlemen, 
passengers,  giving  an  account  of  the  occurrences  which  took 
place  from  the  time  of  her  leaving  New  York,  can  not  fail  of 
being  highly  acceptable  to  the  public: 

We  the  subscribers,  passengers  on  board  the  steam  boat,  on 
her  passage  from  New  York  to  Albany,  on  the  2d  of  October, 
conceive  it  to  be  a  duty  we  owe  the  public  as  well  as  the  pro¬ 
prietor  of  the  boat,  to  give  a  correct  statement  of  the  occurren¬ 
ces  which  caused  her  late  arrival  at  the  latter  place. 

We  left  New  York  at  10  o’clock  in  the  forenoon  of  the  2d  inst, 
against  a  strong  tide,  very  rough  water,  a  strong  gale  from  the 
north;  she  made  a  headway  beyond  the  most  sanguine  expecta¬ 
tion,  and  without  being  rocked  by  the  waves.  The  gale  in 
creased,  the  tide  became  more  urgent,  and  at  the  distance  of 
twelve  miles  from  New  York,  her  headway  was  checked;  we 
cast  anchor  and  laid  to  over  night. 

Oct  3.  This  morning,  after  proceeding  six  miles,  run  foul  of 
a  small  sloop  at  anchor,  through  the  mismanagement  of  one  of 
the  pilots,  which  tore  away  one  of  her  paddle  wheels.  Having 
now  a  force  only  on  one  side,  we  determined  if  she  was 
manageable,  to  continue  our  course,  and  at  nine  o’clock  again 
got  under  way.  Our  expectations  were  fully  gratified  by  the 
trial.  At  Tarrytovvn  we  were  detained  a  long  time  on  account 
of  passengers.  This  evening  we  were  also  detained,  being 
under  the  necessity  of  replenishing  her  with  bread,  water,  &c. 

Oct.  4.  This  day  were  detained  again  for  a  considerable  time, 
at  Chancellor  Livingston’s;  anti  at  Hudson  were  obliged  to  pro¬ 
cure  a  new  supply  of  coals  for  fuel.  Arrived  here  at  10  o’clock 


Steam  Navigation  on  the  Hudson. 


33 


tills  evening;  making  the  time  from  where  the  accident  happen¬ 
ed,  which  was  eighteen  miles  from  New  York,  37  hours.  We 
were  detained  at  least  4^  hours,  making  the  passage  from  that 
place,  with  one  paddle  wheel,  against  a  strong  uninterrupted 


wind,  in  32£  hours. 


Albany,  Oct.  4,  1807. 


Gerard  Steddiford, 
John  Brinckerhoff, 
Jno.  J.  Staples, 

L.  Bloodgood, 

K.  Weeks, 

Andrew  Mercem, 
Henry  R  Teller, 
Chris.  C.  Yates, 

H.  Ketch  urn, 


Samuel  Satterlee  Jr. 
Ira  Scott, 

C.  White, 

H.  Gal  pin, 

Amos  Ketchum, 

P.  W.  Gansevoort, 
Elias  Hoffman, 
Daniel  McDonald. 


The  loss  of  the  wheel  was  remedied  as  soon  as  possible 
by  attaching  buckets  to  the  fly  wheel,  and  she  made  one 
or  two  trips  in  that  condition.  The  imperfectly  con* 
structed  paddle  wheels  were  frequently  crippled  by  acci¬ 
dents,  and  then  the  fly  wheel  was  called  upon  to  do 
double  duty.  Although  the  time  promised  in  the  adver¬ 
tisements  was  thirty-six  hours,  her  trips  were  usually 
performed  in  less  than  thirty.  We  find  in  the  American 
Citizen  the  following  advertisement: 

The  Steamboat— Being  thoroughly  repaired  and  arranged 
for  passengers,  with  a  private  dressing  room  for  ladies,  it  is  in¬ 
tended  to  run  her  as  a  p  icket  between  New-York  and  Albany, 
for  the  remainder  of  the  season.  She  will  leave  New  York 
exactly  at  nine  o’clock  in  the  morning,  and  always  perform  her 
voyage  in  from  30  to  36  hours. 

It  was  then  the  steamboat,  indeed;  no  other'floated  on 
any  of  the  waters  of  the  world,  and  profoundly  did  the 
good  folk  admire  at  the  courage  of  those  who  ventured 
to  trust  themselves  to  the  perilous  enterprise.  It  was 
a  prodigious  advance  upon  previous  modes  of  conveyance, 
when  the  trip  from  one  city  to  the  other  was  actually 
accomplished  in  thirty-six  hours  with  certainty,  instead 
of  three  days  by  the  lumbering  stage  coach,  or  an  in¬ 
definite  time,  sometimes  extending  to  a  couple  of  weeks, 
by  the  tub  like  sloop.  There  were  a  few  who  had  faith 
in  the  invention,  and  foresaw  dimly  its  grand  results; 
of  these  was  the  writer  in  the  Evening  Post  of  Oct.  4, 


1807 


34 


Steam  Navigation  on  the  Hudson . 

Among  thousands  who  viewed  the  scene,  permit  a  spectator 
to  express  his  gratification  at  the  sight  this  morning  of  the 
steam  boat  proceeding  on  her  trip  to  Albany  on  a  wind  and 
swell  of  tide  which  appeared  to  bid  defiance  to  every  attempt 
to  perform  the  voyage.  The  steam  boat  appeared  to  glide  as 
easy  and  rapidly  as  though  it  were  calm,  and  the  machinery 
was  not  in  the  least  impeded  by  the  waves  of  the  Hudson,  the 
wheels  moving  with  their  usual  velocity  and  effect. 

The  experiment  of  this  day  removes  every  doubt  hitherto 
entertained  of  the  practicability  of  the  steam  boat  being  able  to 
work  in  rough  weather.  Without  being  over  sanguine,  we  may 
safely  assert  that  the  principles  of  this  important  discovery  will 
be  applied  to  the  improvement  of  packets  and  passage  boats, 
which  for  certainty,  safety,  expedition  and  accommodation,  will 
far  surpass  anything  hitherto  attempted.  The  invention  is 
highly  honorable  to  Mr.  Fulton,  and  reflects  infinite  credit  on 
the  genius  of  our  country. 


The  Clermont. 

Such  were  the  doings  of  steam  boats  forty-seven  years 
ago,  and  they  were  considered  as  wonderful  in  the  ex¬ 
treme.  Now  we  step  on  board  of  a  boat  at  seven  o’clock 
in  the  evening,  and  by  four  or  five  in  the  morning  we 
arrive  at  New  York.  Who  can  conceive  what  the  next 
fifty  years  will  accomplish,  and  what  in  the  year  1900 
will  be  the  running  time  on  the  noble  Hudson! 

Time  has  justified  the  vision  of  this  seer,  and  gone 
infinitely  further  than  the  promise.  Could  the  veil  of  the 
to  come  ”  have  been  lifted  before  the  eyes  of  the  prophet 


35 


Steam  Navigation  on  the  Hudson. 

and  the  log  book  of  the  ocean  steamer,  or  the  time-table 
of  a  railway  train  been  presented  to  him,  how  incon¬ 
ceivable  must  have  been  his  astonishment.  How  short 
the  time  it  takes  now-a-days  to  work  wonders! 

In  the  spring  the  steam  boat  made  her  appearance 
promptly.  The  Gazette  of  the  28th  April  has  the  fol¬ 
lowing  announcement : 

The  steam  boat  arrived  last  evening  from  New  York,  and 
sailed  again  at  ten  o’clock  this  morning.  She  is  fitted  up  in  a 
very  superior  style  of  accommodation. 

She  was  now  remodeled  and  enlarged,  and  advertised 
to  leave  New  York  every  Saturday  evening  at  5  o’clock, 
and  Albany  every  Wednesday  morning  at  8  o’clock.  Her 
accommodations  were  ample  for  over  a  hundred  passen¬ 
gers,  and  the  number  of  travelers  at  that  day  may  have 
required  only  a  trip  a  week.  The  people  were  yet  ac¬ 
customed  to  travel  in  their  own  conveyances,  and  to  go 
from  home  less  frequently  than  now,  either  for  pleasure 
or  profit. 

The  Bee ,  printed  at  Hudson,  gives  the  following 
unique  account  of  the  Clermont. 

The  steam  boat  is  certainly  an  interesting  curiosity  to  stran¬ 
gers.  To  see  this  large  and  apparently  unwieldly  machine, 
without  oars  or  sai is,  propelled  through  the  element  by  invisible 
agency,  at  a  rate  of  four  miles  an  hour,  would  be  a  novelty  in 
any  quarter  of  the  globe,  as  we  understand  there  is  none  in 
Europe  that  has  succeeded  on  the  plan  upon  which  this  is  con¬ 
structed.  The  length  of  the  boat  is  one  hundred  and  sixty  feet, 
and  her  width  in  proportion,  so  as  not  to  impede  her  sailing. 
The  machine  which  moves  her  wheels,  is  called,  we  believe,  a 
twenty  horse  machine,  or  equal  to  the  power  of  so  many  horses, 
and  is  kept  in  motion  by  steam  from  a  copper  boiler  eight  or 
ten  feet  in  length.  The  wheels  are  on  each  side  similar  to  those 
of  water  mills,  and  under  cover;  they  are  moved  backwards  or 
forwards,  separately  or  together  at  pleasure.  Her  principal  ad¬ 
vantage  is  in  calms,  or  against  head  winds.  When  the  wind  is 
fair,  light  square  sails  are-employed  to  increase  her  speed.  Her 
accommodations,  fifty  berths,  besides  sofas,  ^c.,  are  said  to  be 
equal  or  superior  to  any  vessel  that  floats  on  the  river,  and  are 
necessarily  extensive,  as  all  the  space  unoccupied  by  the  ma¬ 
chinery  is  fitted  in  the  most  convenient  manner.  Her  route, 
between  New  York  and  Albany,  is  a  distance  of  160  miles, 


86 


Steam  Navigation  on  the  Hudson. 

which  she  performs  regularly  twice  a  week,  sometimes  in  the 
short  period  of  thirty-two  hours,  exclusive  of  detention  by  taking 
in  and  landing  passengers.  On  her  passage  last  week,  she  left 
New  York  with  one  hundred  passengers,  upwards,  and  Albany 
with  eighty  or  ninety.  Indeed  this  aquatic  stage  from  Albany, 
with  the  Experiment  from  this  city,  bid  lair  to  attach  the  greatest 
part  of  the  travelers  which  pass  the  Hudson,  and  afford  them 
accommodations  not  exceeded  in  any  other  part  of  the  world. 

The  Experiment  which  is  spoken  of  above  in  eon* 
nection  with  this  aquatic  stage,  was  a  sloop,  the  account 
of  which  is  not  only  apropros  to  our  purpose,  but  of 
sufficient  interest  to  admit  of  being  introduced  here, 

PASSAGE  SLOOPS  ON  THE  HUDSON. 

In  the  year  1800,  merchants  residing  a  hundred  miles 
or  more  distant  from  New  York,  and  distant  from  the 
North  river  ten  or  fifteen  miles,  sent  their  bed  and  bed¬ 
ding  to  the  landing  from  which  they  were  to  sail  for  the 
city,  by  a  team,  and  themselves  followed  on  horseback. 
At  the  landing,  their  bed,  &c.,  was  placed  on  board  the 
sloop  that  conveyed  their  produce  to  market,  and  by  it 
they  took  passage  for  the  city.  The  horse  was  put  to 
pasture  or  in  the  stable  until  their  return,  when  the 
owner  rode  him  home;  and  by  the  team  that  went  for 
the  merchandise  the  bed  and  bedding  were  returned. 
Such  was  the  convenience  of  traveling  at  that  day. 

In  November,  1800,  five  gentlemen  associated  them¬ 
selves  together  for  the  purpose  “of  rendering  the  passage 
between  Hudson  and  New  York  by  water  more  expedi¬ 
tious,  convenient  and  pleasant,  to  ladies  and  gentlemen 
traveling  north  and  south  through  the  state  of  New 
York,  as  well  as  to  promote  the  interest  of  those  con- 
cerned*’  (as  expressed  in  the  words  of  the  agreement), 
by  building  a  packet  of  one  hundred  and  ten  tons  burthen, 
for  the  purpose  of  carrying  passengers  only.  To  accom¬ 
plish  this  object  they  bound  themselves  to  each  other  to 
furnish  the  sum  of  $6,000.  In  accordance  with  this 
agreement,  the  superior  packet  sloop  Experiment  was 
built,  and  superbly  fitted  up  with  state  rooms  and  berths, 
her  whole  length  below  decks,  for  the  accommodation  of 


37 


Steam  Navigation  on  the  Hudson. 

passengers,  and  performed  the  passage  .between  New  York 
and  Hudson  in  an  unprecedented  short  space  of  time. 

In  January  1807,  some  new  names  were  added  to  the 
original  subscribers,  and  a  further  agreement  entered 
into  to  build  another  packet  of  the  same  class  and  for 
like  purposes,  to  accomplish  which  the  subscriptions 
were  increased  to  twelve  thousand  dollars.  This  packet, 
like  the  first,  was  fitted  up  in  style,  and  placed  with  the 
other  on  the  North  river;  and  at  the  time  the  two  cre¬ 
ated  quite  an  excitement.  We  have  before  us  a  bill  and 
receipt  for  a  passage  on  board  one  of  these  vessels  dated 
forty  four  years  ago.  It  is  somewhat  formal,  and  we 
give  it  at  length  as  a  curiosity,  as  it  shows  the  manner 
in  which  things  were  done  on  the  North  river  at  that 
day.  The  passage  referred  to  was  performed  in  twenty- 
seven  hours 

Sloop  Experiment,  Laban  Paddock  master,  for  the  accommo¬ 
dation  of  passengers  on  the  North  River,  will  sail  from  Hudson 
every  Wednesday  morning  at  10  o’clock,  and  from  New  York 
every  Saturday  evening  at  6  o’clock.  And  the  sloop  Experi¬ 
ment,  Elihu  S.  Bunker  master,  for  the  same  purpose,  will  sail 
from  Hudson  every  Sunday  morning  at  9  o’clock,  and  from 
New  York  every  YVednesday  evening  at  5  o’clock  throughout 
the  season,  • 

On  board  the  Experiment.  Capt.  Laban  Paddock.  ? 

May  2,  1810.  \ 

Dr.,  I - P— f,  Dollars  Cts. 

For  passage  and  provisions  from  Hudson  to  New 

York .  5*00 

Spirits . . . 

Maderia  VY’ine . . . . . 

Port  do  . . . 

Sherry  do  . . . . 

Porter. . . . . . . . 

Cider . . . . 

Punch ....  . . . 

Received  payment  in  full,  Abisha  Jenkins. 

In  connection  with  the  sloop  Experiment  was  a  pro^ 
ject  by  the  same. parties  to  run  a  horse  boat  on  the  North 
river  from  Hudson  to  Albany,  uniting  at  the  former 


38  Steam  Navigation  on  the  Hudson. 

place  with  the  sloops.  This  appears  from  articles  of 
agreement  entered  into  by  the  parties,  which  are  now 
before  us.  This  experiment  was  made  in  1810,  and 
proved  a  failure.  There  is  reason  to  suppose  the  sloops 
proved  profitable  at  first,  but  they  were  driven  from  the 
river  by  the  steam  boats.  They  were  sold  and  a  final 
settlement  of  their  accounts  made  in  February,  1813, 

THE  ADVANCE  OF  STEAM  NAVIGATION. 

In  1807,  Fulton  made  his  successful  passage  to  Albany 
by  steam,  and  in  1810  the  old  North  River  steam  boat  was 
performing  the  distance  between  Albany  and  New  York 
professedly  in  36  hours,  though  occasionally  making  the 
trip  in  eight  or  ten  hours  less;  and  Oliver  Evans,  of 
Philadelphia,  was  predicting  that  the  person  was  then 
living  who  would  see  the  distance  between  Philadelphia 
and  Boston  accomplished  in  three  days.  This  individual 
was  many  years  in  advance  of  the  age  in  which  he  lived. 
He  finally  died  in  New  York  about  the  year  1819. 

The  old  North  River  boat,  in  her  original  construction, 
had  a  strange  appearance.  Her  water  wheels  were  with¬ 
out  houses  as  at  the  present  day;  and  cross-heads  con¬ 
nected  with  the  piston,  instead  of  the  walking-beam  now 
in  general  use.  The  countryman,  when  he  first  saw  her 
from  Hudson,  told  his  wife  he  had  seen  the  devil  going 
to  Albany  in  a  saw  mill. 

After  the  North  River,  the  Car  of  Neptune  was  built, 
the  Richmond,  the  Paragon,  the  Chancellor  Kent,  and 
others.  Afterwards,  lines  were  formed  to  New  Bruns¬ 
wick,  New  Haven,  and  Providence,  and  to  Charleston 
and  New  Orleans;  and  at  a  later  period,  from  Liverpool 
to  Boston  and  New  York,  and  from  New  York  to  Bre¬ 
men.  Recently,  Collins’s  splendid  line  of  steamers  from 
New  York  to  Liverpool  have  commenced  their  trips.  In 
the  meantime,  the  Mississippi  and  the  great  lakes  are 
alive  with  steamers;  and  lines  are  forming  to  connect 
with  other  European  cities.  Rail  roads  are  threading  the 
country  ijn  every  direction,  even  to  competition  with  the 
North  river.  What  is  to  be  the  end,  for  steam  is  yet 
but  in  its  infancy  ? 


Steam  Navigation  on  the  Hudson. 


39 


FUEL. 

*»» 

Steam  boats  on  the  North  river  first  performed  their 
trips  with  wood.  Lackawana  coal  was  afterwards  in¬ 
troduced,  by  which  the  expense  of  fuel  was  reduced  from 
$150  a  trip  to  $30.  This  was  the  commencement  of  a 
new  era  in  steamboating. 

THE  HENRY  ECKFORD. 

The  following  reminiscence  was  published  in  the  Morn¬ 
ing  Express  newspaper  in  1851 : 

In  going  our  usual  rounds  this  morning,  our  attention  was  di¬ 
rected  to  a  boat,  but  a  trifle  longer  than  our  canal  boats,  lying 
at  the  foot  of  State  street  bridge,  laden  with  coal  We  were  told, 
that  it  was  the  hull  of  the  steam  boat  Henry  Eckford,  which  in 
by-gone  days  was  a  passenger  boat  on  the  Hudson  river,  and 
in  those  days  was  looked  upon  as  a  magnificent  vessel.  If  our 
memory  serves  us  correctly,  she  first  made  her  appearance 
about  1819  or  1820.  She  was  built  by  the  Messrs.  Mowatts,  of 
New  York,  under  the  auspices  of  the  late  Charles  Smyth,  who 
was  the  father  of  steam  towing  transportation  lines.  In  that 
as  in  other  enterprises  Mr.  Smyth  shook  the  bush  for  others 
to  catch  the  birds.  After  running  as  a  steam  tug  between  this 
city  and  New  York,  until  the  buisness  had  become  so  large  as 
to  require  a  more  powerful  boat,  she  was  kept  in  New  York  to 
tow  vessels  about  the  harbor,  and  finally  in  1840,  her  boiler  ex¬ 
ploded  while  lying  at  the  dock. 

THE  .FULTON. 

The  steam  boat  Fulton  was  placed  on  the  line  in  1814. 
She  had  been  built  to  run  on  the  East  river,  but  the 
danger  of  capture  by  British  cruisers,  induced  the  pro¬ 
prietors  to  run  her  on  this  river  until  that  danger  was 
over.  She  ran  in  opposition  to  the  old  line,  which  was 
then  in  the  full  tide  of  successful  operation.  The  boats 
of  the  latter  consisted  of  the  North  River,  Car  of  Neptune 
and  Paragon.  The  following  advertisement  of  her  run¬ 
ning  arrangements  is  taken  from  the  Albany  Argus  of 
May-,  1814.  The  accommodations,  where  not  on  a  very 
extensive  scale  but  rather  select ,  as  they  advertised  to 
carry  sixty  passengers  at  ten  dollars  each,,  which  paid 
quite  as  well  as  a  thousand  now  at  twenty- five  cents ! 


40 


Steam  Navigation  on  the  Hudson . 

The  public  are  respectfully  informed  that  the  subscriber  has 
commenced  running  the  steam  boat  Fulton,  between  the  cities 
of  New  York  and  Albany,  for  the  accommodation  of  passengers. 

This  boat  was  built  for  the  purpose  of  plying  between  New 
York  and  New  Haven,  but  will  be  employed  on  the  Hudson 
river,  until  a  cessation  of  hostilities  enables  the  proprietors  to 
put  her  on  her  destined  route. 

The  Fulton  has  good  accommodations  and  is  a  very  swift  boat. 
The  complement  of  passengers  is  limited  to  60,  and  the  price  of 
passage  therefore  necessarily  raised  to  'Fen  Dollars. 

She  will  start  from  Albany  every  Monday  morning  at  9  o’clock, 
and  from  New  York  every  Friday  morning,  at  the  same  hour. 

For  passage  apply  on  board  at  Steam  Boat  dock. 

Eli hu  F.  Bunker. 

Albany,  May  16,  1814. 

Captain  Bunker  died  on  the  4th  of  August,  1847, 
aged  75. 

SAFETY  BARGES. 

In  1826,  the  steam  boat  Commerce,  Capt.  Geo.  E.  Sey¬ 
mour,  towed  the  safety  barge  Lady  Clinton,  while  the 
Swiftsure  performed  the  same  honor  to  the  Lady  Van 
Rensselaer.  For  safety  and  comfort,  these  barges  were 
perhaps  unrivaled.  Lacking  speed,  however,  they  soon 
became  unfashionable  and  went  out  of  use. 

LIST  OF  THE  HUDSON  RIVER  BOATS. 

The  following  list  embraces  all  the  passage  boats  built 
and  running  for  any  considerable  time  on  the  Hudson 
river  between  New  York  and  Albany,  since  the  intro¬ 
duction  of  steam  navigation  by  Fulton  in  1807. 

When 


built. 

Name  of  Boat. 

Tons. 

Remarks. 

1807. 

Clermont . 

— 

Name  changed  to  N. 

1808. 

North  Kiver . 

165. 

Broken  up. 

1809. 

Car  of  Neptune . 

295. 

Sunk. 

1811. 

Hope . 

280. 

Broken  up. 

1811. 

Perseverance . 

280. 

do. 

1811. 

Paragon . 

Sunk,  1825. 

1813. 

Richmond . 

370. 

Broken  up. 

1814. 

tul ton  •#••••••»•••*• 

327. 

do. 

1815. 

Olive  Branch . 

295. 

do. 

1816. 

Chancellor  Livingston. 

526. 

do. 

1819. 

Henry  Eckford . 

— 

do. 

Steam  Navigation  on  the  Hudson 


41 


When 

built. 

1 823. 
18*24. 
1825. 
1825. 
1825. 
1825. 

1825. 

1826. 
1826. 
18  7. 
1827. 

1827. 
1  827. 

1828. 
1829. 
I860. 
1832. 

1832. 

1833. 
18’5. 
1836. 

1836. 

1837. 

1838. 

1839. 

1839. 

1840. 

1840. 

1841. 

1841. 

1842. 

1843. 
1843. 
1815. 
1845. 
1845. 
1845. 
1845. 
1845. 

1847. 

1848. 

1849. 
1849. 
1851. 
1854. 


Name  of  Boat.  Tons.  Remarks. 


James  Kent . 

Hudson  . . 

Sandusky . 

Constitution  . 

Constellation . 

Chief  Justice  Marshall. 

Saratoga . 

Sun . 

New  Philadelphia  .... 

Albany  . . 

Independence . . 

North  America . 

Victory . . . 

De  Witt  Clinton . 

Ohio  . . 

Novelty . .  .... 

Champlain ........... 

Erie . 

Helen . 

Robert  L  Stevens  . . . . 

Rochester . 

Swallow . 

Utica . 

Diamond  . . 

Balloon . 

North  America . 

South  America . 

Troy  . . 

Columbia . 

Rainbow  ...» . 

Curtis  Peck . 

Empire  ........... .. 

Knickerbocker . 

Belle  ...........  .... 

Express . 

N i a ga ra  .«••«••••»»»• 

Rip  Van  Winkle . 

Hendrik  Hudson  .... 
Oregon ......  ........ 

Alida  . . . 

Isaac  Newton . 

New  World . 

Manhattan  ...... .... 

Reindeer . 

Hero . 


364.  Broken  up. 

170,  do. 

289.  Towing. 

276.  Now  Indiana,  towing* 
276.  Tow  barge. 

300.  Lost  on  L.  I.  Sound* 
250.  Tow  barge. 

280.  Burnt  1831. 

300.  Buns  on  Delaware. 

298  Broken  up. 

368.  On  Philadelphia  route. 
492.  Destroyed  by  ice,  1839. 

290.  8 unk,  1845. 

571.  Tow  barge. 

412.  do. 

477.  Broken  up. 

4V1.  Tow  barge. 

472.  do. 

- Destroyed,  1834. 

298.  Runs  to  Saugerties. 
491.  Broken  up. 

426  Sunk,  1845. 

340.  Runs  to  Catskill. 

398.  Broken  up. 

204.  Cone  South. 

491,  Runs  to  Rondout. 

640.  Runs  to  Hudson. 

724.  Runs  to  Troy. 

391.  Runs  to  Hudson. 

230.  Towing. 

-  On  James  river. 

936,  Sunk. 

858.  East  river. 

430.  Towing. 

288.  Cone  South. 

730.  Towing. 

510.  Runs  to  Albany. 

1170  do. 

1050.  Hauled  off. 

900.  Runs  to  Albany. 

1400.  do. 

1400.  Hauled  off. 

500.  Runs  to  Albany. 

1000.  Burnt. 

C75.  Runs  to  Albany. 


42  Steam  Navigation  on  the  Hudson, 

Besides  the  foregoing,  a  great  many  boats  have  been  run 
for  a  short  time  as  opposition  boats,  or  taken  the  place 
of  other  boats  during  the  time  required  for  repairs. 
Among  them  may  be  mentioned  the  ill-fated  Henry  Clay, 
the  Armenia,  Iron  Witch,  Eureka,  &c. 


STEAM  BOAT  SOUTH  AMERICA. 


The  South  America. 


Among  the  boats  which  have  been  most  noted  for 
speed  and  popularity  is  the  South  America.  In  her  day, 
she  was  acknowledged  to  be  unsurpassed  in  beauty  of 
finish,  accommodation,  economy  in  fuel  and  adaptation  to 
her  business.  She  was  run  at  the  rate  of  21  miles  per 
hour,  and  her  friends  asserted  that  when  the  opportunity 
presented  she  would  prove  herself  the  fastest  boat  in  the 
world . 

The  length  of  the  steam  boat  South  America  was  266 
feet;  breadth,  27  feet;  depth  of  hold,  9  feet  6  inches; 
tonnage,  640  tons. 

The  engine  was  built  by  James  Cunningham,  with  an 
improved  half  stroke,  an  invention  of  his  own,  which 
proved  itself  to  be  superior  to  any  other  mode  of  cutting 
off  steam,  and  has,  since  its  introduction  in  the  South 
America,  been  adopted  by  a  number  of  boats  plying  on 
the  Hudson,  and  Long  Island  Sound.  Her  cylinder  was 
54  inches  in  diameter ;  length  of  stroke,  1 1  feet ;  her  main 
water  wheel  shafts  were  of  wrought  iron,  and  15  inches 
in  diameter,  and  were  forged  at  the  West  Point  foundry, 
at  Cold  Spring,  N.  Y. 

She  had  two  improved  boilers,  also  made  by  James 
Cunningham,  which  were  models  for  economy  and  dura¬ 
bility.  The  consumption  of  fuel  was  one  ton  of  anthra- 


43 


Steam  Navigation  on  the  Hudson. 

cite  coal  per  hour,  which  was  burned  by  the  use  of  a  blast 
from  blowers  driven  by  small  engines,  entirely  uncon¬ 
nected  from  the  main  engine. 

The  hull  was  built  by  D.  Burtis  &  Co.  The  whole 
construction  and  fitting  out  was  done  under  the  imme¬ 
diate  direction  and  supervision  of  Isaac  Newton,  Esq.,  of 
New  York  city,  at  the  cost  of  $83,000. 

She  had  in  her  main  cabin,  below,  294  berths,  54  in 
the  ladies  saloon,  which  was  81  feet  in  length,  on  the  main 
deck  aft,  and  46  in  a  route  of  20  state  rooms,  on  the 
upper  deck;  this,  together  wTith  the  berths  assigned  the 
officers  and  crew  (amounting  to  44  in  all),  afforded  sleep¬ 
ing  accommodations  for  about  450  persons. 


Perhaps  there  is  nothing  that  has  improved  so  greatly 
as  boat  building  within  the  last  twenty  or  thirty  years. 
Its  progression  has  been  so  rapid,  that  wre  scarcely  can 
conceive  the  strides  it  has  made  in  that  period.  Our 
steamers  are  now  floating  palaces,  costing  in  their  con¬ 
struction  from  $80,000  to  $200,000,  and  furnished  in  a 
style  of  magnificence  never  excelled  by  the  craft  of  any 
other  section  of  the  Union.  And  the  progressive  spirit, 
it  will  be  readily  observed,  is  not  confined  to  the  arrange¬ 
ment  of  boats  as  to  comfort  and  splendor,  but  it  is  visible 
in  the  speed  with  which  they  accomplish  their  specified 
distance  of  travel.  Steam  fairly  wafts  them  along,  and 
nine  hours  occupied  in  coming  from  New  York  to  this 
city  is  accounted  as  only  an  ordinary  trip. — Ev.  Journal. 

But  the  opening  of  the  Hudson  River  rail  road,  and 
the  transit  from  New- York  to  Albany  in  the  short 
space  of  four  hours,  produced  a  new  era  in  the  annals  of 
travel.  The  steam  boats  had  reigned  supreme  over  the 
noble  waters  of  the  Hudson  for  forty-four  years.  The 
coincidence  of  the  times  and  seasons  for  the  commence¬ 
ment  of  steam  navigation  and  'of  steam  travel  by  rail  on 
the  river  is  striking.  And  the  contrast  of  the  time  and 
fare  table  with  that  now  used  on  the  rail  road  is  quite  as 
remarkable. 

[Annals,  vi .] 


5 


44 


Steam  Navigation  on  the  Hudson . 

NOLTE’S  ACCOUNT  OF  THE  CLERMONT. 

The  following  account  of  the  first  voyage  of  the  Cler* 
mont  is  to  be  found  in  the  Autobiography  of  Vincent 
Nolte,  a  Frenchman.  It  is  inserted  here  for  the  purpose 
of  showing  how  little  some  writers’  eyes  and  memories  are 
to  be  relied  upon  for  a  correct  account  of  what  they  wit¬ 
ness.  Mons.  Nolte  describes  the  event  in  this  wise: 

It  was  exactly  at  this  time,  Aug.  1807,  that  I,  then  staying  at 
one  of  the  most  celebrated  boarding  houses  in  the  city  of  New 
York,  the  Widow  Gallop’s  on  Broadway,  while  engaged  in 
making  my  preparations  for  departure,  by  mere  chance,  at 
breakfast,  made  the  acquaintance  of  a  gentleman  who  was  just 
about  to  give  the  world  the  first  example  of  steam  navigation. 
The  reader  will  readily  guess  that  I  am  now  referring  to  Robert 
Fulton,  and  his  newly-built  steamer  Clermont,  constructed  by 
him  at  his  own  expense.  It  was  then  a  topic  in  the  mouth  of 
every  body,  as  the  attempt  he  proposed  in  a  short  time  to  make 
to  carry  his  plan  into  execution,  was  the  object  of  univeisal 
curiosity.  My  new  acquaintance  wanted  me  to  be  present,  and 
witness  the  departure  of  his  steam  boat,  which  was  to  take 
place  from  the  bank  of  the  Hudson  river  at  12  o’clock;  and, 
indeed  it  did  not  require  much  persuasion  to  induce  me  to 
accede  to  this  request.  So  I  saw  this  curious  and  wonderful 
structure — 130  feet  in  length,  16  feet  broad,  7  feet  depth  of  hold, 
rating  160  tons,  as  it  had  been  described,  and  containing  about 
450  passengers*  —  leave  the  wharf  as  the  clock  struck  twelve, 
make  right  for  the  middle  of  the  stream,  and  describe  a  circle 
three  times  in  succession.  Then,  defying  the  force  of  the  wind 
and  the  waves  alike,  it  dashed  gallantly  along  its  way  to 
Albany,  as  though  the  most  favorable  breeze  were  filling  its  sails. 
A  vociferous  cheer  arose  fi  om  the  thousands  assembled  on  both 
banks  of  the  Hudson  to  witness,  with  their  own  eyes,  the  reality 
of  this  truly  grand  experiment,  and  its  brilliant  success. 

The  large  steam  vessel  previously  described,  was  named  after 
Clermont ,  the  country-seat  of  his  friend,  the  Chancellor  Livings¬ 
ton.  It  reached  Clermont,  at  a  distance  of  110  miles,  within 
twenty-four  hours,  left  that  point  again  at  nine  o’clock,  on  the 
next  morning,  and  arrived  at  Albany  some  forty  seven  miles 
farther  in  about  eight  hours.  It  had  thus  made  nearly  five 
miles  per  hour  against  wind  and  current.  This  steam  boat 
was  the  first  that  its  owner  began  to  employ  to  a  practical 
purpose  and  valuable  result. 

*  Mons.  Nolte  may  have  seen  450  persons  on  the  boat,  before  it 
cast  off,  if  so  many  could  have  stood  on  the  deck. 


Steam  Navigation  on  the  Hudson. 


45 


NORTH  RIVER  i-TEAM  BOATS. 

The  steamers  of  the  Hudson  are  the  fleetest  and  most 
beautiful  boats  in  the  world.  In  Europe  the  steamboats 
make  but  little  better  time  than  the  steam  ships — their 
average  being  from  twelve  to  fifteen  miles  per  hour.  A 
first  class  North  river  boat  will  do  you  eighteen  and 
twenty-two.  The  New  World  has  done  the  distance 
between  New  York  and  Poughkeepsie,  eighty  miles,  in¬ 
side  of  four  hours — landings  included.  The  Reindeer,  on 
Wednesday,  reached  this  city  in  a  little  over  eight  hours 
after  leaving  New  York,  making  all  the  usual  landings, 
and  wrestling  with  a  freshet  equal  to  four  miles  an  hour. 
Such  speed  is  unknown  on  any  other  river  in  the  world. 
The  magnificence  and  comfort  of  our  boats  are  unri¬ 
valed.  The  English  steam  boat  is  made  for  service  rather 
than  beauty.  To  obtain  safety,  they  sacrifice  not  only 
speed,  but  comfort.  Mirrors  are  superseded  by  staun- 
cheons,  and  ottomans  by  braces  and  clamps.  As  we 
mentioned  before,  the  last  sample  of  dur  skill  is  the  pro¬ 
duction  of  the  Reindeer  —  a  steamer  whose  goaheadi- 
tiveness  and  finish  may  challenge  comparison  with  any¬ 
thing  that  swims,  beginning  with  a  naiad  and  leaving  off 
with  a  dolphin. — Knickerbocker . 


(46) 


✓ 


LUTHERAN  CHURCH. 

From  O’Call aghan’s  Documentary  History,  yol.  iii. 


PETITION  OF  THE  LUTHERANS  OF  WILLEMSTADT,  FOR 
LEAVE  TO  BURY  THEIR  DEAD.  1674. 

To  the  Rt  Honble  Myn  Heer  Anthony  Colve  Governr 

General  of  N.  Netherland. 

Those  of  the  Augsburgh  Confession  represent  with  due 
-  respect  that  your  Petitioners  are  ordered  in  cases  of.  the 
burial  of  their  dead,  to  pay  the  Sexton  (  Aanspreecker *) 
of  the  Reformed  Church  notwithstanding  they  employ 
their  own  Sexton,  as  lately  happened,  one  of  theirs  having 
seized  goods  by  execution  and  sold  the  same  at  public 
auction :  And  the  Petitioners  remark  that  they  fully  pay 
all  taxes  assessments,  excise  and  all  others  whatever  they 
may  be  called;  Yea  they  endeavor  to  pay  also  their  own 
poor:  They  are  therefore,  as  they  consider,  not  in  the 
least  subject  to  such  charges  but  on  the  contrary  ought 
to  enjoy  their  (religious)  exercises  and  Divine  Service 
free  and  unconstrained,  for  which  they  have  a  written 
grant  from  the  late  Honble  Governour  Lovelace  copy  of 
which  is  hereunto  annexed. 

It  is  also  well  known  to  all  that  Mr.  Roosenboom  hath 
addressed  a  petition  on  that  subject  to  the  Honble  Heer 
General  abovenamed,  to  be  favored  therein;  which  peti¬ 
tion  had  no  result,  but  the  Heer  Laval  being  come  up,  said 
in  full  Court  in  date  the  7th  November  1672  he  had  au¬ 
thority  as  to  Roosenboom’s  Petition — Let  the  Dead  bury 
their  Dead;  for  with  what  free  conscience  can  your  Pre¬ 
centor  go  and  act  for  the  Lutherans,  for  they  have  more 
ceremonies  than  the  Reformed,  Whereupon  at  that  time 
he  had  no  more  to  say,  and  it  was  as  well. 

*  Literally,  1  ‘  The  person  sent  around  with  invitations  to  a  funeral 
a  custom  still  in  prac  t  ’ '  <  in  some  of  the  older  settlements  of  this  state. 
We  render  the  word,  “Sexton,”  being  the  nearest  approach  we  can 
find  to  the  original. 


Lutheran  Church. 


47 


Wherefore  your  Petitioners  for  aforesaid  reasons  ap¬ 
proach  your  Honour  requesting  most  humbly  that  they 
may  enjoy  what  they  have  been  granted,  and  as  Your 
Petitioners  Brethren  at  N.  Orange  enjoy  the  same,  that 
they  futher  may  bury  their  dead  without  notifying  Mr. 
Roosenboom,  but  employ  their  own  Sexton  and  no  one 
else.  Whereupon  they  expect  a  favorable  answer. 

Your  Honors 

Affectionate  Subjects 

Bernhardus  Anthony  V.  D.  M, 
Jan  Heinderik  Bruyns 
Jochem  Backer 
Hans  Hendricksen. 


DOMINE  BERNARDUS  ARENSIUS  HIS  PASSE. 

Permit  and  Suffer  the  Bearer  hereof,  Domine  Bernardus 
Arensius,  to  Passe  from  hence  to  Albany  with  his  neces- 
saryes  in  the  Sloope  whereof  Claes  Tysen  is  Master,  and 
to  Officiate  there  as  Pastor  of  the  Augustine  or  Lutheran 
Congregation,  as  formerly  under  the  English  Government, 
without  any  manner  of  Lett,  hindrance  or  molestacon 
whatsoever  Given  under  my  hand  and  Seale  in  New 
Yorke,  the  6th  day  of  November  1674. 

E.  Andross. 


DOM.  SCHAETS  AND  THE  LUTHERANS. 

Extraordinary  Court  held  at  Albany 

11  March  16jf$. 

The  Court  met  at  the  request  of  De  Gideon  Schaets, 
accompanied  by  the  W:  Consistory,  who  complains  that 
Myndert  Frederickse  Smitt  came  to  his  house  and  told 
him  the  Dome  never  to  presume  to  speak  to  any  of  his 
Children  on  religious  matters ;  and  that  he  the  Dome  went 
sneaking  through  all  the  houses  like  the  Devil;  adding, 
Our  Domine  (meaning  Dom:  Bernardus,  Minister  of  the 
Lutheran  Congregation)  does  not  do  so. 


48 


Lutheran  Church. 


Dom:  Schaets  further  complains  that  Myndert  Frede- 
rickse’s  wife  grievously  abused  &  calumniated  him  behind 
his  back  at  Gabriel  Thomson’s  house,  as  an  old  Rogue, 
Sneak  &ca.  and  that  if  she  had  him  by  the  pate,  she  should 
drag  his  gray  hairs  out  of  it ;  which  the  Domine  offered  to 
prove  by  witnesses. 

Whereupon  Myndert  Frederickse  &  wife  are  sent  for  to 
Court  and  Domc  Schaets  accusation  is  read  to  Myndert 
who  denies  it  all  declaring  that  he  had  not  given  the  Do¬ 
mine  an  ill  word. 

Pietertje,  wife  of  Myndert  Frederickse  denies  having 
abused  Dom :  Schaets  as  a  rogue  &  sneak ;  but  that  the 
Domine  hath  abused  her  religion  as  a  Devilish  Religion. 

Hend.  Rooseboom  sworn,  says  that  he  was  at  Gabriel 
Thomson’s  last  Monday  when  Pietertie,  Myndert  Fre- 
derickse’s  wife  entered,  and  wishing  to  go  away  was 
called  back  by  Gabriel  and  conversing  on  the  Subject  of 
Dom:  Schaets  and  her  daughter,  she  said — What  business 
hath  Dom:  Schaets  to  question  mine  daughter?  To  this 
Gabr  said — Why  should  he  not  do  so?  The  Domine  does 
well  to  question  people.  Whereupon  Pietertie  said, 
Dom.  Schaets,  the  old  Rogue  Sc  Sneak;  had  she  been  by  • 
she  should  have  caught  him  by  the  grey  pate— adding  he 

ought  to  look  to  his  daughter  the  W - -e  and  take  care  of 

her — To  which  Gabriel  replied,  Meutie,  why  say  that  & 
scold  the  Domine  so?  who  answered  him — You  damned 
dog!  you  protect  whores  &  knaves. 

Cornelis  Teunise  Swart  being  sworn,  says  he  was  also 
at  Gabriel  Thomson’s  last  Tuesday  when  Pietertie  Myn¬ 
dert  Frederickse’s  wife  came  in  and  enquired  for  her 
daughter,  who  not  being  there,  she  was  going  away  but 
Gabriel  called  her  back  and  said — sit  aw’hile  Meutie;  and 
being  in  conversation  about  Dom:  Schaets  wishing  to 
question  her  daughter— she  said  she  had,  herself,  a  teacher 
to  do  so — -that  if  she  had  the  old  rogue,  she  would  take 
him  by  the  grey  pate,  and  further  knoweth  not. 

Mr  Sherrif  Pretty  requests  their  Worships  that  he  may 
act  herein,  to  institute  his  action  at  a  more  convenient 
period. 

The  W.  Court  postpone  the  matter  to  the  next  Court 


Lutheran  Church . 


49 


day  to  act  then  on  the  merits.  Meanwhile  if  parties  can 
be  reconciled,  (through  Respect  for  the  Divine)  they  were 
particularly  recommended  to  do  so,  saving  the  Sheriffs 
action  &  costs. 

Albany  12  March  16|^. 

Mynd1  Fredericksen  and  his  wife  appear  before  their 
Worships  of  the  Court,  requesting  that  they  maybe  re¬ 
conciled  in  love  &  friendship  with  Dorn:  Schaets  as  they 
have  been  with  Gabriel.  Whereupon  their  W:  re¬ 
commended  him  to  call  Dom:  Schaets  which  being  imme¬ 
diately  done  ; 

Dom:  Schaets  appearing  before  their  Worships  is  asked 
if  he  were  willing  to  be  Reconciled  with  the  aforesaid 
persons  ?  who  answers,  Yes,  on  condition  that  they  both 
acknowledge  him  an  honourable  man,  and  that  they  know 
nought  of  him  except  what  is  honest  &  virtuous  (always 
excepting  the  Dispute  out  of  which  this  case  arose,  namely 
■ — Universal  Grace — being  no  political  question*),  also 
the  Sheriff’s  claim 

Whereupon  Myndert  aforesaid  &  his  wife  acknowledge 
the  Domine  in  open  court  to  be  an  honest  man,  and  that 
they  know  nought  of  him  except  all  honour  &  virtue  and 
are  willing  to  bear  all  the  costs  hereof,  also  to  settle  with 
the  Sheriff 

N.  B.  It  is  settled  by  And:  Teller  and  for  6  Beavers 
and  6  cans  of  wine 

*  This  is  explained  by  the  following  testimony  in  another  case— - 
“Hans  Dreper  further  says,  that  Gabriel’s  wire  stated  that  De  Schaets 
said  at  ner  house  that  whoever  taught  that  Christ  died  alike  for  all 
men,  taught  a  false  and  devilish  Doctrine,” 


EPISCOPAL  CHURCH. 


From  O’Callaghan’s  Documentary  History,  vol.  iii. 


STATE  OF  THE  CHURCH  IN  ALBANY,  ETC. 

Rev.  Thomas  Barclay  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Society 
for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts. 

Albany  Sept  26  1710. 

Honoured  Sir:  As  I  did  begin  from  my  first  coming  to 
Albany,  so  I  go  on  to  catechise  the  youth,  and  it  hath 
pleased  God  to  bless  my  weak  endeavours  that  way,  for 
a  great  many  Dutch  children,  who  at  my  first  arrival 
were  altogether  ignorant  of  the  English  tongue,  can  dis¬ 
tinctly  say  our  catechism,  and  make  the  responses  at 
prayers.  Every  Sunday,  after  the  second  lesson  at 
evening  prayer,  I  explain  some  part  of  the  catechism  in 
as  plain  and  familiar  a  manner  as  I  can,  shunning  all 
controversies,  teaching  them  such  fundamental  doctrines 
as  are  necessary  and  tend  most  to  promote  piety  and  a 
good  life.  I  have  taught  the  scholars  the  prayers  ap¬ 
pointed  for  charity  schools,  and  I  have  used  all  possible 
methods  to  engage  the  children  to  their  duty,  both  by 
the  giving  of  small  presents  to  the  most  forward  and 
diligent,  and  by  frequently  visiting  their  schools :  and  for 
encouraging  the  school  masters,  I  give  them  what  charity 
is  collected  in  our  church,  obliging  them  to  bring  their 
scholars  to  public  prayers. 

At  Schenectady  I  preach  once  a  month,  where  there  is 
a  garrison  of  forty  soldiers,  besides  about  sixteen  English 
and  about  one  hundred  Dutch  families;  they  are  all  of 
them  my  constant  hearers.  I  have  this  summer  got  an 
English  school  erected  amongst  them,  and  in  a  short  time, 
I  hope,  their  children  will  be  fit  for  catechising.  Sche¬ 
nectady  is  a  village  situated  on  a  pleasant  river,  twenty 
English  miles  above  Albany,  and  the  first  castle  of  the  In¬ 
dians  is  twenty  four  miles  above  Schenectady.  In  this  vil¬ 
lage  there  has  been  no  Dutch  minister  these  five  years  and 


51 


Episcopal  Church . 

there  is  no  probability  of  any  being  settled  among  them. 
There  is  a  convenient  and  well  built  church  which  they 
freely  gave  me  the  use  of.  I  have  taken  pains  to  shew 
them  the  agreement  of  the  articles  of  our  church  with 
theirs.  I  hope  in  some  time  to  bring  them  not  only  to 
be  constant  hearers,  but  comm.micants. 

Mr.  Lydius,  the  minister  of  the  Dutch  congregation  at 
Albany,  died  the  1st  day  of  March  last.  He  was  a  good 
pious  man,  and  lived  in  entire  friendship  with  me;  sent 
his  own  children  to  be  catechised.  At  present  there  is 
no  Dutch  minister  at  Albany,  neither  is  any  expected  ’till 
next  summer;  and  from  New  York  tc  the  utmost  bounds 
of  my  parish,  there  is  no  minister  but  myself:  most  of 
the  inhabitants  are  Dutch,  the  garrison  excepted,  which 
consists  of  three  companies,  each  company  one  hundred 
men.  In  the  city  and  county  of  Albany  there  are  about 
three  thousand  souls,  besides  the  garrison;  in  the  mean 
time  some  of  the  Dutch  children  I  have  baptized,  and 
married  several,  and  other  parts  of  the  service  I  have 
performed  in  the  Dutch  tongue,  and  more  of  them  would 
accept  my  ministry:  but  that  Mr,  De  Bois,  a  minister  of 
the  Dutch  congregation  of  New  York,  comes  sometimes 
to  Albany;  he  is  a  hot  man,  and  an  enemy  to  our  church, 
but  a  friend  to  his  purse,  for  he  has  large  contributions 
from  this  place,  As  for  myself  I  take  no  money,  and 
have  no  kind  of  perquisite.  I  have  used  all  moderation 
towards  dissenters  in  this  country.  There  is  none  but 
those  of  the  Dutch  church,  and  I  have  found  two  only 
not  baptized,  the  one  born  in  West  Jersey  and  bred  a 
Quaker,  him  I  have  brought  over  to  x>ur  church,  and 
christened  him  the  first  day  of  this  year;  the  other  is  an 
old  England  man,  but  of  a  loose  life;  so  soon  as  I  can 
bring  him  off  from  his  wicked  courses,  I  design  to  bap¬ 
tize  him. 

Since  the  death  of  Mr.  Lydius,  the  Indians  have  no 
ministers;  there  are  about  thirty  communicants,  and  of 
the  Dutch  church,  but  so  ignorant  and  scandalous,  that 
they  .can  scarce  be  reputed  Christians.  The  sachems  of  the 
five  nations,  viz:  of  the  Masque,  Oneydas,  Onnondages, 
Cayougas,  and  Senekas,  at  a  meting  with  our  governor, 


52 


Episcopal  Church. 

V 

Col.  Hunter,  at  Albany  the  10th  August  last,  when  his 
excellency  in  his  speech  to  them  asked  them  if  they  were 
of  the  same  mind  with  those  four  Indians  that  had  been 
over  with  Col.  Schuyler  in  desiring  missionaries  to  be 
sent  and  they  answered  that  they  were,  and  desired  to 
have  forts  built  among  them  and  a  church,  and  that  Mr. 
Freeman,  present  minister  of  the  Dutch  congregation  at 
Flatbush,  near  New  York,  be  one  of  those  two  mission¬ 
aries  which  the  queen  promised  to  send  them.  This  Mr. 
Freeman,  five  years  ago  was  minister  of  Schenectady, 
and  converted  several  of  the  Indians;  he  has  acquired 
more  skill  in  their  language  than  any  Dutch  minister 
that  has  been  in  this  country,  and  Mr.  Dellius  is  not  so 
well  skilled  in  that  tongue,  a  great  part  of  our  liturgy  he 
has  translated  into  the  Indian  tongue,  in  particular 
morning  and  evening  prayer,  the  litany,  the  creed  of  St. 
Athanasius,  &c.,  besides  several  places  of  the  Old  and 
New  Testament.  He  told  me  when  he  read  to  them  the 
litany,  they  were  mightily  affected  with  it.  He  is  a 
gentleman  of  a  good  temper,  and  well  affected  to  our 
church,  and  if  there  were  a  bishop  in  this  part  of  the 
world,  would  be  persuaded  to  take  Episcopal  ordination. 
I  often  entreat  him  to  go  over  to  England,  but  he  is 
afraid  of  the  danger  of  the  voyage,  and  his  wife  will  not 
consent  to  live  among  the  Indians;  he  has  promised  to 
give  me  his  manuscripts,  and  what  he  has  done  into  the 
Indian  tongue. 

I  am  sorry  to  tell  you,  Sir,  that  I  am  afraid  the  mis¬ 
sionaries  that  are  coming  over,  will  find  hard  work  of  it, 
and  if  the  commander  of  that  fort  be  not  a  person  of 
singular  piety  and  virtue,  all  their  endeavours  will  be 
ineffectual;  these,  here,  that  trade  with  them,  are  loath 
that  any  religion  get  any  footing  among  them;  besides, 
these  savages  are  so  given  to  drinking  of  that  nasty 
liquor  rum,  that  they  are  lost  to  all  that  is  good.  I  must 
tell  you  that  the  Masque,  of  whom  one  of  the  four  that 
were  lately  in  England  was  a  sachem,  have  not  above 
fifty  men.  All  the  five  nations  cannot  make  two  thou¬ 
sand,  and  of  these,  in  number,  the  Senekas,  are  near  one 
thousand,  and  most  of  them  are  in  the  French  interest. 


Episcopal  Church .  58 

Hendrick  the  great  prince  that  was  honoured  so  in  Eng¬ 
land,  cannot  command  ten  men;  the  other  three  were  not 
Sachems.  How  far  her  majesty  and  the  society  have 
been  imposed  upon,  I  leave  it  to  you  to  judge.  I  beg 
leave  also  to  tell  you,  that  the  missionaries  that  are  sent 
over,  must  have  an  honourable  allowance  and  large  pre¬ 
sents  to  give,  otherwise  they  will  ha,ve  but  few  proselytes ; 
and  great  care  must  be  taken  that  they  be  well  used, 
otherwise  their  mission  will  prove  ineffectual  a;  Mr. 
Moor’s,  and  how  he  defeated  the  designs  of  his  mission, 
Col.  Schuyler  best  knows. 

I  have  now  worried  you  with  a  long  letter,  and  shall 
only  add,  that  I  shall  be  always  ready  to  follow  the  di¬ 
rections  of  the  society,  and  to  endeavour  all  that  in  me 
lieth  to  propagate  religion  where  it  is  not,  and  cultivate 
it  where  it  is  established. 


RECTORS  OF  ST.  PETER’S  CHURCH,  ALBANY. 

The  Rev.  Thoroughgood  Moor  was  the  earliest  Church 
of  England  clergyman  in  these  parts,  after  the  Rev  Mr. 
Talbot’s  short  stay.  He  arrived  at  New  York  in  1704, 
and  proceeded  thence  to  Albany,  as  Missionary  to  the 
Mohawks.  Owing  to  the  influence  of  the  fur  traders, 
his  efforts  to  convert  the  heathen  were  entirely  without 
fruit,  and  he  returned  to  N.  York.  He  went  next  to 
^Vl’lington  N.  J.,  where  he  was  so  scandalized  at  the  in¬ 
decent  conduct  of  Ld.  Cornbury  and  his  Lt.  Gov.,  that 
he  refused  to  admit  the  latter  to  the  Lord’s  Supper. 
For  this  he  was  imprisoned,  but  having  contrived  to  es¬ 
cape  from  jail,  he  embarked  for  England.  The  ship,  in 
which  he  was  a  passenger,  foundered  at  sea,  and  he, 
with  all  on  board,  unfortunately,  perished.  The  first 
rector  of  St.  Peter’s  Church,  Albany,  as  far  as  our  know¬ 
ledge  at  present  extends,  was  the 

I.  Rev,  Thos.  Barclay.  This  gentleman  was  chaplain 
to  the  fort  in  1708,  and  read  the  service  and  preached  to 
the  citizens  in  Dutch.  He  officiated  also  at  Schenectady 
and  for  the  Indians,  until  Nov.,  1712,  when  the  Rev.  Wm 


54 


Episcopal  Church . 

Andrews  came  out  as  successor  to  Mr  Moor.  Mr.  A., 
however,  had  not  greater  success  among  the  natives  than 
his  predecessor,  and  he  abandoned  his  mission  in  1719„* 

Mr.  Barclay’s  congregation  met,  for  seven  years,  in  a 
small  Lutheran  chapel,  when  Gov.  Hunter  encouraged 
them  to  erect  a  church  for  themselves.  To  aid  them,  he 
furnished  all  the  stone  and  lime  necessary  for  the  build¬ 
ing;  the  city  presented  £200,  and  contributions  were 
received  from  Schenectady,  and  other  parts  of  the  pro¬ 
vince.  The  garrison  also  subscribed,  and  £600  were 
soon  collected.  In  Nov.  1716,  the  first  English  Church 
in  Albany  was  opened  for  service.  It  was  a  handsome 
stone  building,  58x42  feet.  The  communion  service  pre¬ 
sented  by  Q.  Anne  “  to  the  Chapel  of  the  Onondagas,” 
during  this  rectorate,  was,  it  is  presumed,  retained  for 
the  use  of  this  church,  where  it  is  still  preserved.  The 
Soc.  for  Prop,  the  Gospel  withdrew  its  allowance  soon 
after,  the  consequence  of  which  was,  the  church  ceased 
to  have  a  minister,  until  the  arrival  of  the 

II.  Rev.  Mr.  Miln.  This  clergyman  was  appointed  in 
1728,  and  continued  until  1737,  when  he  was  transferred 
to  New  Jersey.  He  was  succeeded  by 

III.  Rev.  Henry  Barclay,  the  son  of  Rev.  Thos.  B.,  a 
native  of  Albany,  who  graduated  at  Yale  Coll,  in  1734. 
He  was  appointed,  at  Mr.  Miln’s  recommendation,  in 
1735,  catechist  to  the  Indians  at  Fort  Hunter,  and  be¬ 
came  rector  in  1737-8  which  office  he^filled  until  1746, 
when  he  was  appointed  rector  of  Trinity  church,  New 
York,  where  he  died  in  1764. 

IV.  Rev  John  Ogilvie,  a  native  of  New-York,  and 
graduate  of  Yale  College.  Being  a  Dutch  scholar,  he  was 
appointed  to  this  mission  in  1748,  and  arrived  at  Albany 

*  A  clergyman,  named  Wm.  Andrews;  was  a  missionary  in  Sche¬ 
nectady  where  he  also  kept  a  school,  as  late  as  1773,  but  his  health 
failing,  from  the  labors  attendant  on  these  avocations,  he  was  obliged 
to  resign  his  charge.  He  removed  to  Williamsburg,  Va.,  but  learning 
that  the  mission  at  Johnstown  was  vacant,  by  the  retirement  of  the 
Rev.  M.  Mosley,  pastor  of  that  place,  he  immediately  applied  to  Sir 
W.  Johnson  tor  that  church,  but  we  have  not  ascertained  whether  he 
ever  returned  to  the  Mohawk  valley. 


55 


Episcopal  Church. 

in  March,  1749.  In  1760,  he  joined  the  expedition 
against  Niagara,  and  continued  attached  to  the  army  until 
the  close  of  the  French  war.  He  succeeded  Mr.  Barclay, 
as  rector  of  Trinity  Church,  New  York,  and  died  Nov. 
26,  1774,  aged  5 1.  His  portrait  is  in  the  vestry  of  Trinity 
church.  An  attempt  was  made  in  176S  and  1766  to 
have  a  translation  of  the  book  of  common  prayer  (pre¬ 
pared  by  Messrs.  Andrews,  Barclay  and  Ogilvie)  printed 
in  New- York  by  Weyman,  in  the  Mohawk  language. 
But  the  difficulty  to  print  such  language  was  found  al¬ 
most  insurmountable,  as  there  was  not  at  the  time,  “a 
Letter-makers  founding  house  ”  in  the  colonies.  Wey¬ 
man  completed  nine  sheets,  or  as  far  as  the  74th  page, 
when  he  died  bankrupt.  The  work  passed  then  (1771) 
into  the  hands  of  Hugh  Gaine,  when  four  or  five  hund¬ 
red  copies,  it  is  said,  were  printed. 

V.  Rev.  Thomas  Brown,  B.  A.,  of  St.  Albans  Hall, 
was  the  only  child  of  the  Rev.  G.  Brown,  of  Oxford,  Eng. 
He  was  ordained  Deacon  by  the  Bishop  of  London  23d 
Sept.  1754.  He  came  to  America  some  time  after  it  is 
supposed  with  the  27thReg’t,  of  which  he  was  chaplain, 
and  married  Martina  Hogan,  of  Albany  4  on  the  24th  Aug., 
1761.  He  served  with  his  regiment  at  the  reduction  of 
Martinico  in  Feb.,  1762,  and  having  returned  to  Eng¬ 
land,  received  the  order  of  priesthood,  and  was  com¬ 
missioned  missionary  to  North  America  by  the  Bishop  of 
London,  8th  of  July,  1764.  He  succeeded  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Ogilvie,  as  pastor  of  St.  Peter’s  and  served  the  church 
until  1768.  He  then  moved  to  the  south,  and  was  ap¬ 
pointed,  30th  May,  1772,  rector  of  Dorchester,  Maryland. 
He  died  2d  May,  1784,  aged  49  years,  leaving  a  wife  and 
seven  children;  the  survivor  of  these,  a  daughter,  is  still 
living  in  Albany.  She  has  portraits  of  her  father,  grand¬ 
father  and  grand  mother,  in  good  preservation. 

YI.  Rev.  Harry  Munro,  in  whose  time  the  church 
was  incorporated,  was  rector  from  1768  to  1773  or  1774. 
The  congregation  is  represented  as  consisting  of  not 

*  2  Mass.  Hist.  Soc.  Coll,  i,  148. 

[Annals,  vi.]  6 


* 


56  Episcopal  Church. 

more  than  thirty  families*  which  Mr.  Munro,  in  a  state¬ 
ment  before  u*s,  classes  thus: — Attendants,  156;  Com¬ 
municants,  44,  of  which  30  were  gained  by  him  or  joined 
the  church  since  his  appointment,  and  he  “  had  all  the 
rest”  (he  says)  “  to  reconcile  or  bring  back,  his  prede¬ 
cessor  haying  had  but  three  communicants,  when  he  last 
administered.”  -Baptized  since  his  appointment  in  Al¬ 
bany,  345;  Communicants  lost  by  death,  removals,  &c. 
14;  desertions  4=18.  “  Three  of  those  have  left  the 

church  because  they  were  not  permitted  to  wrest  the  go¬ 
vernment  out  of  the  vestry’s  hands ;  the  other  because  he 
could  not  relish  Bishops  Tillotson’s,  Sherlock’s  &  Atter- 
bury’s  sermons,  and  because  Mr.  Munro  did  not  preach 
spiritual  sermons.” 

The  church  was  vacant  during  the  war  of  the  Revolu¬ 
tion,  though  it  is  stated  that  service  was  performed  in 
1776.* 

VII.  Thomas  Ellison,  A.  M.,  of  Cambridge,  Eng., 
was  appointed  rector  on  the  first  of  May,  1787,  and  one 
of  the  Regents  of  the  University,  Feb,  28,  1797.  He 
was,  in  private  life,  a  gentleman  of  a  sociable  disposition 
and  remarkable  wit,  whose  society  was  much  courted, 
for  it  is  said  of  him,  that  he  was  “  as  much  above  a  mean 
action  as  an  angel  is  above  a  calumniator.”  The  old 
church,  in  the  centre  of  State-street,  was  demolished  ,and 
the  present  edifice  erected  in  his  rectorate,  Anno  1802,  on 
the  26  of  April,  of  which  year,  Mr.  Ellison  died.  Bishop 
Chase,  of  Ohio,  studied  divinity  under  this  clergyman.  A 
vacancy,  of  more  than  a  year,  now  occurred. 

Vi II.  Rev.  Frederic  Beasley,  of  Philadelphia,  was 
elected  rector  in  July  (though  others  say  1st  Sept.),  1803. 
Possibly  he  took  up  his  permanent  residence  at  the  rec¬ 
tory  at  the  latter  date.  He  served  six  years,  having  re¬ 
signed  in  August  1809,  and  left  the  city  the  following 
month.  He  became  afterwards  provost  of  the  University 
of  Penn. 

IX.  Rev.  Timothy  Clowes,  son  of  Joseph  C.,  of 
Hempstead,  where  he  was  born  March  18,  1787,  gradu- 

*  N.  J.  Hist.  Soc.  Proc.  ii,  111, 


57 


Episcopal  Church . 

ated  at  Columbia  College  in  1808.  Having  received  Dea¬ 
con’s  orders  he  preached  in  Jersey  City  and  Jamaica  in 
1809,  on  the  19th  of  Nov.  of  which  year  he  preached  for 
the  first  time  at  St.  Peter's.  He  began  his  ministerial 
duties  in  this  church  on  23  April,  1810;  but  it  was  not 
until  the  31  Dec.  of  that  year  that  he  was  regularly  call¬ 
ed,  or  inducted  as  rector.  Having  obtained  the  pre¬ 
requisite  order  of  presbyter  on  the  26th  Nov.,  1813,  he 
was  instituted  on  3d  Feb.  1814.  His  connection  with 
this  church  terminated  in  the  latter  part  of  1817,  when 
he  returned  to  his  native  town  and  taught  a  classical 
seminary  there  for  three  years  with  great  success.  In 
1821,  he  became  principal  of  Erasmus  Hall,  Flatbush;  in 
1823,  was  chosen  President  of  Washington  College,  Md., 
and  rector  of  the  church  in  Chestertown  and  St.  Pauls, 
Kent  Co.  The  college  being  destroyed  by  fire,  Dr. 
Clowes,  now  LL.  D.,  again  opened  school  at  Hempstead. 
He  presided  over  the  Clinton  Liberal  Institute,  Oneida 
county,  from  1838  to  1842,  when  he  removed  to  Philadel¬ 
phia,  where  he  pursued  his  usual  business  of  instruction. 
He  died  in  1847,  at  the  age  of  60.* 

Dr.  Clowes  united  himself,  it  is  understood,  to  the 
Universalist  Society  in  the  latter  years  of  his  life. 

X.  Rev.  William  B.  Lacey  officiated  from  July,  1818, 
to  the  spring  of  1832.  He  resides  at  present,  according 
to  the  church  Almanac,  in  the  state  of  Louisiana,  where 
we  believe,  he  confines  himself  to  the  department  of 
education. 

Rev.  Horatio  Potter,  was  instituted  rector  in  1833. 

^Address  of  the  Hon.  Lt.  Gov.  Taylor  and  others  to  the  congre¬ 
gation  of  St  Peter’s  church ;  Answer  of  members  o i  the  congregation 
of  St.  Peter’s  church,  Albany,  to  Lt.  Gov.  Taylor’s  pamphlet,  printed 
for  the  congregation,  February,  1816:  Thompson’s  Hist.  L.  I.,  ii. 
126. 


58 


Episcopal  Church. 


REVD  WM  ANDREWS  MISSIONARY  TO  THE  MOHAWKS. 

At  a  Meeting  of  ye  Comrs  of  the  Indian  affairs  in  Al¬ 
bany  the  14th  November  1712.  Present  Pr  Schuyler 
Hend.  Hansen  K.  V.  Renselaer  Mynd.  Schuyler  Jobs 
Schuyler  P  Vn  Brugh 

The  Comrs  Recd  a  letter  from  his  Excellency  dated  ye 
31th  of  October  last  and  is  as  followth  [Letter  missing.] 

The  Reverend  Mr.  Wm  Andrews  Missionary  for  the 
Mohocks  sent  by  the  honourable  Society  for  propagation 
the  Gospel  in  foreign  parts  was  desired  to  meet  the  Comrs 
with  the  Reverend  Mr.  Tho.  Barclay,  who  came.  It  was 
then  ordred  that  the  said  letter  should  be  read  unto  them 
which  was  done,  and  told  Mr  Andrews  that  they  would 
at  all  times  give  him  all  the  assistance  that  Lays  in  their 
power  for  accomplishing  so  Good  a  work  as  he  Is  sent 
for, 

for  which  he  Gave  the  Comrs  Many  thanks. 

At  a  Meeting  of  the  Comrs  of  the  Indian  affairs  in  Al¬ 
bany  ye  15th  day  of  Novr  1712.  Present  Pr  Schuyler 
Johs  Schuyler  K.  Vn  Renselaer Hend  Hansen  R  In- 
goldesby  Mynd.  Schuyler  P.  Vn  Brugh. 

This  day  a  letter  from  his  Grace  My  Lord  Arch  B.  of 
Canterberry  dated  ye  29th  of  May  last  to  the  Sachims  of 
the  Six  Nations  of  Indians  was  delivered  to  the  Sachims 
of  the  Maquas  Country  and  read  unto  them,  the  contents 
whereof  was  Interpreted  by  Lawce  Clasen,  which  letter 
was  ordered  to  be  recorded  in  these  Minutes  on  the  re¬ 
quest  of  the  Reverend  Mr  Thomas  Barclay.  [Letter  not 
found.] 

The  Reverend  Mr  Andrews  Missionary  to  the  Mohawk 
Indians  told  the  sd  sachems  that  he  is  Sent  by  her  Most 
Excellent  Majesty  the  queen,  and  the  Society  for  propa¬ 
gation  ye  Gospel  in  foreign  parts  at  their  own  desire  & 
request  to  her  said  Mayty  when  Some  of  their  Sachims 
were  in  England,  and  propositions  Since  that  time  made 
to  have  Minisiers  to  Instruct  them  in  the  Christian  Re¬ 
ligion,  for  which  Reason  he  has  left  his  dearest  friends 
and  relations  and  under  Gone  a  very  tedious  &  dangerous 


Episcopal  Church .  59 

voyage  to  come  over  to  them  to  Instruct  them,  in  ye  prin¬ 
cipals  of  the  Christian  Religion  for  the  Good  of  their  Souls 
Salvation,  hopeing  with  the  blessing  of  God  to  see  the 
happy  fruit  of  his  labour,  and  that  they  will  give  him 
due  protection  and  Incouragement  in  the  doing  of  it  whilst 
it  shall  pleas  god  that  he  should  be  among  them. 

Then  Terachjoris  Sachim  of  Canajoharie  the  upper 
Castle  of  the  Mohawks  Stood  up  and  Sayd  that  he  was 
deputed  by  those  of  that  Castle  to  come  to  Albany  to  Re¬ 
ceive  in  their  name  the  Reverend  Mr  William  Andrews- 
for  their  Minister,  who  they  understood  is  Sent  (on  their 
Request)  by  the  Great  queen  of  Great  Britain  to  Instruct 
them  in  the  Christian  Religion  for  the  good  of  their  Souls; 
Service,  and  Gave  Mr  Andrews  his  hand  and  promised 
for  those  of  that  Castle  to  give  all  the  Protection  and  In¬ 
couragement  unto  him  that  shall  lye  in  their  power. 

Hendrick  one  of  the  Sachims  of  the  Maquas  Country 
stood  up  and  Say’d  that  he  was  very  glad  that  ye  Rev¬ 
erend  Mr  Wm  Andrews  was  come  over  for  their 
Minister  to  Instruct  them  in  the  Christian  Religion  for 
the  Good  of  their  Souls,  and  that  he  was  deputed  with 
those  now  here  present  by  the  other  Sachims  of  that 
Castle  to  Receive  him  in  their  names  for  their  Minister 
and  father  and  promist  for  themselfs  and  those  of  the  sd 
Castle  to  give  him  all  the  protection  Incouragement  and 
assistance  possibly  they  can,  and  always  be  faithful  and 
obedient  to  him,  and  doth  heartly  Return  thanks  to  her 
Majty  the  Great  queen  of  Great  Britain  that  She  has  been 
pleased  to  Grant  their  Requests,  and  also  to  the  honble 
Society  for  propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  foreign  parts  and 
doth  thank  his  Excellency  Robert  Hunter  Esqr  &c  and 
Collo  Nicolson  for  their  Intercession  in  Getting  their  Re¬ 
quest  Granted  the  fruets  whereof  are  now  to  be  seen. 

Hendrick  sayd  further  that  he  desired  in  ye  name  of 
the  sd  Sachims  of  the  Mohawks  that  none  of  their  land 
might  be  clandestinly  bought  from  any  of  them  for  that 
would  breed  a  faction  and  disturbance  among  them  and 
would  be  an  occasion  of  leaving  their  Country  and  oblige 
them  to  go  over  to  the  Ottowawas  or  farr  Indians  where 
they  should  have  no  Christian  Minister  to  Instruct  them 


60  Episcopal  Church . 

in  the  Christian  Religion,  nor  that  they  should  not  be 
brought  under  that  yoke  as  those  at  Canada  are  who 
are  obliged  to  pay  the  tenths  of  all  to  their  priests.  Gave 
a  Belt  of  wampum. 

Mr  Andrews  Reply,d  that  he  was  not  come  for  the  lu- 
cure  of  their  land  nor  to  lay  any  burdons  on  them  but  to 
Instruct  them  in  the  true  Christian  Religion  and  that  no 
land  Should  be  bought  of  them  in  a  Clandestine  Manner, 
if  it  Lays  in  his  power  to  prevent  it,  and  that  the  horn 
curable  Society  had  taken  care  to  pay  him. 

The  Reverend  Thomas  Barclay  desired  that  the  Comrs 
would  be  pleased  to  procure  men  Slees  &  horses  for  Con- 
veying  the  Goods  of  the  Revd  Mr  Andrews  to  the  Mo- 
hawks  Country*  and  to  pay  the  Charges  thereof  which 
they  promised  to  do  with  all  readyness, 

The  Comrs  Gave  the  following  presents  to  the  Mohawk 
Indians  viz1  6  kegs  powder  6  boxes  of  lead  12  Blankets  12 
Shirts  2  duffel  Blankets  5  pair  Stockings  200  flints  &  50 
lb  Shot 

REVD  MR  BARCLAY  AND  HENDK  HANSEN  ESQR. 

Att  a  Meeting  of  the  Comrs  of  the  Indian  affairs  in  Al¬ 
bany  the  10th  of  Janry  171§  Present  Kill:  Van 
Renselaer  the  Commandr  &  Chiefe  here  Hend:  Han¬ 
sen  Mynd1  Schuyler  Johs  Schuyler  Pr  Vn  Brugh 

The  Comrs  being  conviend  at  ye  desire  of  Mr  Barclay 
minister  of  ye  Gospel  &  Missionary  of  the  Society  for 
Propagation  of  ye  Gospel,  who  acquaints  ye  Gentn  that 
he  is  Inform’d  that  Mr  hend:  Hansen  at  ye  house  of 
Wm  hogan  on  ye  15th  Instant  when  ye  Mayor  was  sworn 
did  take  occasion  to  Rail  against  him  upon  occasion  of  a 
Letter  writ  by  his  Excy  the  Govr  to  ye  Comrs  of  ye  Ind: 
affairs  wherein  Mr  Hansens  name  was  mentioned  for  not 
going  to  ye  Mohogs  Country  with  Mr  Andrews  the  Mis¬ 
sionary,  and  that  if  he  had  any  Interest  with  y"  Indians 
it  ought  to  be  Imployed  for  her  Mayes  Service,  that  it 

*  The  Indian  name  of  the  mission  above  mentioned  is  given  in  an 
affidavit  of  the  Rev>,  Henry  Barclay,  of  which  an  extract  is  subjoined. 
The  engraving  at  the  side  is  from  a"survey  dated  33d  October,  1713,. 


Episcopal  Church .  6* 

was  hoped  he  would  Rectify  that  neglect,  and  make  mat¬ 
ters  Easy  and  Some  other  matters  that  were  unpleasant 
to  Mr  Hansen  Whereupon 

Mr  Hansen  alledg’d  in  a  publick  Comp®  on  y®  sd  15th 
Instant  that  Mr  Barclay  was  ye  occasion  of  writing  of 
that  Letter,  and  that  he  designed  to  be  a  bishop  over 
Mr  Andrews  ye  Missionary  that  he  had  a  mind  for  his 
salary,  and  that  he  told  ye  gentn  he  would  come  up  with 
him  for  what  he  had  done  to  his  prejudice  &  oyr  words 
to  that  Effect  &  desires  that  such  Evidence  to  ye  proof 
hereof  may  be  heard, 

and  shows  the  Schoharie  creek,  the  church,  and  the  two  Mohawk  cas¬ 
tles,  #c. 

“  Henry  Barclay  of  the  City  of  New  York,  Rector  of  Trinity 
Church  in  said  City  (in  Communion  with  the  Church  of  England  as 
byLaw  Established)  of  full  Age  being  duly  sworn  deposeth  and  saith: 

That  he  was  born  in 
Albany.  That  in  Qua¬ 
lity  of  missionary  from 
the  Society  for  propa¬ 
gating  the  Gospel  in 
foreign  parts,  he  resid¬ 
ed  several  yeais  at  Ti- 
enonderoga  among  one 
of  the  Iroquois  Nations 
of  Indians,  who  call 
themselves  Ganinge- 
hage ,  and  are  by  the 
English  called  Mo¬ 
hocks.  That  the  De¬ 
ponent  hath  always 
heard  and  understood 
that  by  the  praying 
Indians,  were  meant 
such  of  the  Mohawk 
Nation,  as  were  Con¬ 
verted  to  the  Christian 
Religion.  And  that 
while  he  lived  among 
the  said  Mohock  In¬ 
dians  he  understood 
from  them  that  they 
laid  claim  to  Lands  to 
the  Northward  of  Saraghtoge,  in  the  County  of  Albany,  but  how  far 
to  the  Northward  he  does  not  Remember  to  have  heard  from  them, 
and  that  he  verily  believes  they  still  make  the  same  claim.” 


62 


Episcopal  Church . 

Robert  Livingston  Junr  Esqr  Mayor  of  ye  City  of 
Albany  doth  say  that  on  ye  sd  15th  of  this  present  Janu¬ 
ary  he  heard  Mr  hend  Hansen  Say  he  woundered  why 
Mr  Barclay  was  so  incencd  agst  him  yl  he  did  not  Look 
upon  Mr  Andrews  ye  Missionary  to  have  writ  ags1  him  to 
ye  Govr  but  beleeved  that  what  he  did  was  by  the  In¬ 
stigation  of  Mr  Barclay,  and  that  he  ruled  over  the  said 
Mr  Andrews  as  a  bishop,  and  wether  it  was  to  remove 
him  from  y1  place  and  have  ye  benefitt  of  it  for  himself 
he  knew  not,  and  did  further  say  that  he  has  had  to  doe 
with  greater  men,  then  he  meaning  Mr  Barclay  and  did 
not  value  him  he  would  come  up  with  him, 

Lf  Collo  Johs  Schuyler  doth  say  that  he  was  in  C  ompe 
ye  15  Instant  at  Wm  Hogans  when  ye  Mayor  was  Sworn 
and  he  heard  Mr  Hend:  Hansen  Say  that  he  beleeved 
that  Mr  Andrews  ye  Missionary  had  never  writ  against 
him  to  the  Govr  and  that  he  beleev’d  Mr  Barclay  Ruled 
over  Mr  Andrews  as  a  Bishop  and  that  Mr  Hansen  said 
further  that  he  knew  not  wrhy  Mr  Barclay  was  so  much 
incencd  against  him  Except  it  was  about  ye  =£50  but 
knew  not  further  of  it. 

Mr  Abraham  Cuyler  Says  that  he  was  present  the 
same  time  at  Wm  Hogans  and  he  heard  Mr  Hend:  Han¬ 
sen  Say  he  knew  not  what  ailed  Mr  Barclay  to  write 
ags*  him  to  ye  Govr  where  upon  Mr  Mayor  answered 
him,  he  beleeved  it  was  not  Mr  Barclay  that  had  writ  to 
the  Govr,  whereupon  Mr  Hansen  said  I  know  that  but 
he  beleev’d  that  what  was  written  to  the  Govr  agsf  him 
was  by  ye  Instigation  of  Mr  Barclay,  and  Said  further  is 
Mr  Barclay  angry  because  I  was  desired  to  gett  =£50  for 
him  upon  Interest  to  pay  his  debts,  and  that  his  wife 
must  know  nothing  of  it,  &  further  knows  not. 

Mr  Hend.  Hansen  being  present  Says  that  he  was  at 
Wm  Hogans  on  ye  15th  Instant  when  ye  Mayor  was 
Sworn,  and  being  troubled  at  that  Paragraph  of  his 
Excys  Letter  wch  Related  to  him,  he  Could  not  forbear 
mentioning  ye  same  to  Mr  Mayor,  Subject  of  that  Letter 
(the  being  discoursed  of  by  Some  of  the  Compe)  and  he 
told  ye  Mayor  how  that  he  Suspected  it  was  by  Mr  Bar¬ 
clays  means,  that  it  happened  to  be  thus  misrepresented 


63 


Episcopal  Church . 

to  his  Excellcy  because  he  had  heard  that  Mr  Barclay- 
had  drop’d  some  words  Reflecting  on  him — and  there¬ 
upon  took  occasion  to  Speak  to  Mr  Mayor,  whom  he 
thought  would  inform  Mr  Barclay  of  his  Resentment,  & 
Said  I  know  not  why  Mr  Barclay  is  so  much  incencd  ags1 
me  Except  it  be  for  that  I  Endeavord  upon  Mr  Collins 
desire  to  get  £50:  upon  Interest  for  Mr  Barclay  wh  his 
wife  was  to  know  nothing  off  which  I  could  not  procure 
without  being  Security  for  it  my  Self  which  I  declin’d, 
and  so  did  not  gett  it,  or  that  he  must  have  a  design  ags1 
that  good  man  Mr  Andrews  ye  Missionary  to  make  him 
uneasy  &  gett  a  part  of  his  Salary,  for  it  Seems  yl  he 
would  Rule  over  that  good  Man  as  a  bishop,  it  Seems  as 
the  Dutch  phrase  is  dat  hy't  hondtie  d ’  Steert  soade  off 
hacken ,  that  is  he  would  cutt  off  the  Litle  flogs  taile,  but 
he  was  not  affraid  of  him  for  he  had  had  to  doe  with 
as  Great  men  as  he  was  and  yet  he  would  come  up  with 
him  meaning  that  when  ye  matter  came  to  a  fair  hearing 
he  doubted  not  but  to  Clear  himself  and  Concluded  that 
he  did  not  know  what  ailed  ye  man,  meaning  Mr  Barclay, 
for  he  had  done  him  all  the  kindnesse  that  was  in 
his  power  and  Shewed  him  all  the  Respect  Imaginable 
ever  Since  he  had  been  in  ye  Country  and  had  used  all 

Endeavors  to  Perswade  and  Recomend  ve  Indians  to  be 

•/ 

kind  to  Mr  Andrews  the  Missionary,  and  to  bring  him  of 
the  best  that  they  hunted  telling  ye  Indians  that  it  was 
the  Custome  of  ye  Christians  to  doe  So  and  to  be  kind 
to  their  Ministers. 

Mr  Barclay  Says  he  will  not  trouble  ye  Comrs  any 
further,  but  give  his  Excellcy  the  Govr  an  Account  how 
Mr  Andrews  ye  Missionary  was  Received  by  Taquajenont 
y°  only  Sachim  that  was  at  home  in  the  Maquase  Country 
to  Receive  their  Minister. 

Mr  Barclay  desired  a  Copy  of  ye  above  proceedings, 
the  Comrs  order  a  Copy  to  be  deliver'd  to  Mr  Barclay 
and  to  Mr  hend.  Hansen  Likewise  if  he  desires  it,  they 
both  promiseing  not  to  Send  it  down  to  N  York  before 
ye  ordinary  post  goes  wh  is  fryday  next,  when  ye  Gentn 
will  give  his  Excellcy  an  Account  thereof. 


64 


Episcopal  Church . 

PETITION  OF  THE  RECTOR  &C  OF  ST.  PETER’S  CHURCH 

FOR  A  CHARTER. 

To  his  Excellency  Sir  Henry  Moor  Baronet  Governor 
and  Commander  in  Chief  of  the  Province  of  New 
York  and  the  Territories  thereon  depending  and 
Chancellor  of  the  same  &c 

The  Petition  of  the  Minister  Church  Wardens  and  Ves¬ 
try  of  S1  Peters  Church  in  the  City  of  Albany — Humbly 
Sheweth 

That  His  Excellency  Robert  Hunter  His  Majesty  King 
George  the  firsts  Governor  of  this  province  on  the  2 Is1 
October  1714  by  Letter  Pattent  under  the  Broad  seal  did 
Grant  unto  the  Rev1  Thomas  Barclay  Peter  Mathews 
Esqr  and  John  Dunbar  a  Certain  piece  of  Ground  therein 
particularly  described  for  to  erect  and  Build  a  Church  for 
public  Worship  agreable  to  the  Rules  and  Regulations  of 
the  Church  of  England  as  by  Law  Established,  that  soon 
after  a  Church  was  Built  on  the  said  ground  and  publick 
worship  has  been  performed  according  to  the  mode  of  the 
Church  of  England.  And  your  Petitioners  conceiving  it 
may  be  for  the  Interest  and  advantage  of  the  said  Church 
to  have  it  Incorporated. 

May  it  therefore  please  your  Excellency  to  Grant  unto 
your  Petitioners  a  Charter  for  the  Incorporation  of  the 
said  Church  in  such  manner  as  unto  your  Excellency 
shall  seem  most  proper. 

And  your  Petitioners  shall  ever  pray  &c 

Harry  Munro,  Clerk. 

Christopher  hegerman  )  Church 
Daniel  Hewson  Junr  )  Wardens 
John  Barclay,  Wm  Benson 

18  May  1768.  Read  in  Council 
&  referred  to  a  Committee. 

13  July  1768.  Reported  and  granted. 


In  the  report  laid  before  a  convention  of  the  clergy, 
Oct.  5,  1704,  allusion  is  made  to  Albany  as 

“  A  large  frontier  town  where  most  of  the  people  are 
Dutch,  who  have  from  Amsterdam  a  Dutch  Minister,  one 


I 


Episcopal  Church.  65 

Mr  Lydius,  but  there  are  some  English  families,  besides 
a  garrison  of  soldiers,  who  are  a  considerable  congrega¬ 
tion.  A  church  of  England  Minister  here  will,  in  all 
probability,  do  signal  service  not  only  by  setting  up  a 
public  worship  to  the  joy  &  comfort  of  the  English,  who 
impatiently  desire  a  minister,  and  persuading  the  Dutch 
and  others  to  conform,  but  also  in  instructing  the  Indians 
which  come  in  great  numbers  thither.  Mr  Moore,  mis¬ 
sionary  to  the  Mohawks,  is  coming  to  settle  here  for  some¬ 
time  by  the  directions  of  his  Excellency,  my  lord  Cornbury 
who  gives  him  great  encouragement,  and  has  been  particu¬ 
larly  pleased  to  promise  him  presents  for  the  Indians. 

Doc.  Hist.,  Hi,  117. 


In  Col.  Heathcote’s  letter  to  the  Society  for  the  Propa¬ 
gation  of  the  Gospel,  Nov.  6,  1705,  he  says: 

“As  for  Mr  Moor’s  mission,  you  will  undoubtedly  have 
the  account  thereof  very  fully  by  Mr  Talbot,  whose  place 
he  supplies,  havingnot  thought  it  worth  the  while  to  stay 
at  Albany.  As  for  my  opinion  that  matter,  I  think  it  is 
too  heavy  for  the  Society  to  meddle  with  at  present,  and 
wrould  properly  lie  as  a  burthen  upon  the  Crown,  to  be 
defrayed  out  of  the  revenue  here.  For  their  being 
brought  over  to  our  Holy  faith  will,  at  the  same  time, 
secure  them  in  their  fidelity  to  the  government.  And 
not  only  that,  but  the  Society  will,  I  believe,  find  em¬ 
ployment  enough  for  their  money  in  sending  of  mission¬ 
aries  amongst  those  who  call  themselves  Christians,  on 
the  coast  of  America,  which  I  find  to  be  their  resolution. 
And  it  is  certainly  the  greatest  charity  in  the  world  to 
have  the  best  Religion  planted  in  these  parts,  which,  with 
time,  will  in  all  probability,  be  so  vast  a  Country  and 
People.  As  for  Mr.  Dellius  I  don’t  think  it  worth  the  while 
in  being  at  any  extraordinary  charge  in  sending  him; 
because  I  believe  no  consideration  would  make  him  live 
in  the  Indian  Country.  And  if  he  did  he  has  not  the 
language;  and  one  that  goes  on  that  mission  must  be  a 
young  man  who  is  able  to  grapple  with  fatigues,  and  will 
not  only  take  pains,  but  is  capable  of  learning  the  lan- 


66 


Episcopal  Church. 

guage ;  and  it  is  a  general  observation  that  none  are  so 
apt  to  gain  foreign  tongues  as  the  Scotch.” 

Doc.  Hist.,  in,  124. 


In  the  address  of  the  provincial  clergy  to  Gov.  Hunter, 
May,  14,  1712,  they  say: 

“  As  it  is  with  the  greatest  pleasure  we  hear  of  the  due 
Encouragement  Mr  Barclay  Minister  of  Albany  meets 
with  in  the  propagation  of  the  Christian  Religion  and 
Knowledge  under  your  Ex’cys  wise  and  pious  administra¬ 
tion.  So  it  is  our  earnest  and  humble  request  that  your 
Ex’cy  will  be  pleased  to  promote  the  building  of  a  church 
there  which  is  very  much  wanting.” 


INSCRIPTION  ON  THE  FRONT  OF  ST.  PETER’S  CHURCH. 

Glory  be  to  the  Lord  for  he  is  good — for  his  mercy  endureth  forever. 

ST.  PETER’S  CHURCH. 

Formerly  standing  in  the  centre  of  State,  at  its  junction  with  Barrack 
Street,  Built  A.  D.  MDCCXV — Incorporated  A.  D.  MDCCLXIX. 

Demolished  and  this  edifice  erected  A.  D.  MDCCCII. 
Thomas  Eelison,  Rector — John  Stevenson,  Goldsbrow  Banyer, 
Church  Wardens.  Philip  Hooker,  Archt. 


(67) 


DUTCH  REFORMED  CHURCH. 

From  O’Callagharrs  Documentary  History,  vol.  iii. 


DIFFICULTIES  IN  THE  DUTCH  CHURCH  AT  ALBANY. 

At  a  Council  Sept  25th  1675.  Present,  The  Governor, 
the  Secretary,  Capt  Brockholes,  Mr  J  Laurence, 
Capt  Dyre,  Mr  Fred:  Philips. 

The  matter  under  consideracon  was  ye  Complaint  of 
Do  Nicholas  van  Renslaer  against  Do  Newenhuysen,  upon 
Acc1  of  his  sending  to  him  by  some  of  yc  Elders  on  Sunday 
last,  to  forbid  him  to  baptise  any  children  that  should  be 
brought  in  the  afternoon  to  be  baptised,  Upon  which  he 
forbeare  coming  to  ye  Church  that  time,  but  said  he  went 
to  speake  with  Do  Newenhuysen,  to  know  his  reason  for 
what  he  had  done 

To  whom  ye  said  Do  replyde  aloude  in  ye  street,  yl  it 
was  because  he  did  not  looke  upon  him  to  be  a  Lawful! 
Minister,  nor  his* admittance  at  Albany  to  be  Lawfull, 
whereupon  ye  said  Do  Renslaer  desired  to  speake  to  him 
in  ye  house,  &  to  show  him  what  Testimonials  he  had, 
which  he  admitted,  yet  afterwards  would  scarcely  looko 
on  them  but  exclaimed  against  him  in  like  manner  as  be¬ 
fore;  That  afterwards  at  Mr  Ebbings  one  of  ye  Elders, 
they  saw  all  his  Papers,  but  ye  Do  still  said,  yl  one  or- 
d  yned  in  England,  had  nothing  to  do  with  their  Church, 
without  a  Certificate  from  their  Classis. 

Do  Newenhuysen  did  not  deny  at  all  that  was  alleged 
against  him,  but  on  ye  contrary  did  in  a  manner  maintaine. 
That  no  one  yl  only  had  orders  from  ye  Church  of  England 
had  sufficient  Authority  to  be  admitted  a  Minister  here, 
to  administer  ye  Sacrements  without,  as  before,  &c 

Resolved ,  That  Do  Newenhuysen  shall  have  time  of  two, 
three  or  four  dayes  to  sett  in  writing  wx  his  opinion  or 
Judgnfi  is  in  this  Case,  particularly  whether  a  Minister 
ordained  in  England  by  a  Bishop,  coming  here  and  having, 

[ Annals ,  vi.]  7 


68 


Dutch  Church. 


Certificate  thereof,  bee  not  sufficient  ordination  to  preach 
&  Administer  ye  Sacraments  in  ye  Dutch  here  or  no. 

Hee  offers  to  bring  it  in  on  Thursday  next. 

A  Copie  of  Do  Newenhuysens  Orders  &  Instructions 
from  ye  Classis  at  Amsterdam,  to  be  taken  &  ye  Originalls 
given  him  againe 

Do  Renslaers  papers  of  Certificate  &  Testimonials  were, 
viz1. 

The  Ordinacon  by  Dr  Earle  Bishop  of  Sarum,  to  be  a 
Deacon. 

His  Majesties  allowance  of  him  under  his  Signett  to  be 
a  Minister,  &  to  preach  to  ye  Dutch  Congregacon  at 
Westminister. 

A  Certificate  from  severall  persons  of  Quality  of  his 
being  an  allowed  Chaplaine  to  ye  Embassador  extra¬ 
ordinary  ye  Heer  Goph,  from  ye  States  of  Holland. 

A  Certificate  from  ye  Minister  &  Officers  of  a  Church 
in  London,  of  his  having  officiated  as  a  Lecturer  there. 

The  Duke  of  Yorkes  recommendacon  of  him  to  the 
present  Governor  here. 

Upon  which  ye  following  Order  was  made,  viz1  Upon 
the  Complaint  of  Do  Nicholas  Van  Renslaer  Minister  of 
Albany,  That  Do  Wilhelmus  Newenhuysen,  Minister  of 
this  Towne  had  openly  and  with  words  of  Contempt  said 
that  Do  Renslaer  was  no  Minister,  &  his  ordinacon  not 
good,  both  Parties  appearing  this  day  at  the  Councell,  Mr 
Renslaer  having  produced  his  severall  Ordinacon  of  Dea¬ 
con  &  and  Presbiter  by  the  Bishop  Salisbury  also  at- 
testacons  of  his  having  been  Minister  to  Myn  heer  Van 
[Goph],  Embassador  from  ye  States  Genii  residing  at 
London,  &  since  Minister  of  ye  Dutch  Church  at  West¬ 
minister,  and  Lecturer  at  Sf  Margaretts  Loathbury  in 
London,  &  of  his  good  Comport  in  s  '  Churches,  together 
with  his  Majesties  Signett  for  Westminister,  &  his  Royal 
Highnesse  letter  of  Recomendacon  to  this  place  or  Albany 
if  vacant  and  made  appeare  his  being  chosen,  admitted  & 
officiateing  in  ye  Church  at  Albany  according  to  their 
usual  manner  &  Constitucon  of  ye  Reformed  Churches, 
wth  ye  approbacon  &  Confirmacon  of  ye  Magistrates, 
and  Governr  all  which  being  found  to  be  authenticke. 


Dutch  Church. 


69 


Upon  a  full  hearing  of  all  partys  it  appearing  y1  D° 
Newenhuysen  had  spoken  ye  words  declaring  DoRenslaer 
to  be  no  Minister  &c.  ye  above  testimonys  being  produced 
in  Councell  to  ye  said  Newenhuysen  and  he  owned  to 
have  been  made  acquainted  therewith  still  insisted  ye 
said  DoRenslaers  Ordinaconnor  Call  did  not  fitly  qualify 
him  to  administer  ye  Sacrements,  for  which  giving  not  ye 
least  sufficient  reason,  but  implied  according  to  his  owne 
fancy. 

Being  Withdrawne,  after  mature  deliberacon  It  being 
of  great  weight  &  consequence,  It  is  Resolved  thatye  said 
Do  Newenhuysen  shall  have  some  time  to  give  in  his 
Answer  to  ye  above  in  writing,  which  he  desireing  no 
longer  then  till  Thursday,  Ordered,  That  on  Thursday 
ye  30th  instant,  ye  said  Do  Newenhuysen  shall  by  2  aclock 
in  the  afternoone  appeare  &  bring  in  ye  same,  particularly 
whether  the  Ordination  of  ye  Church  of  England  be  not 
sufficient  qualification  for  a  Minister  comporting  him- 
selfe  accordingly,  to  be  admitted,  officiate  &  administer 
yc  Sacraments,  according  to  ye  Constitucons  of  ye  re¬ 
formed  Churches  of  Holland:  At  which  time  y"  Elders, 
&  all  other  Officers  of  v°  Dutch  Church  are  likewise  re- 

4/ 

quired  to  appeare  and  be  present. 

By  Order  of  ye  Governr  in  Couneell 

This  order  of  Councell  was  sent  M.  N.  Seer. 

At  a  Councell  Septr  30.  1675.  Present.  The  Governor 
The  Secretary.  Mr  Laurence.  Capt.  Dyre.  Mr  Phillips. 

This  day  being  appointed  at  two  a  clock  for  Do  New- 
enhuysen  to  bring  in  his  answer,  &  make  his  appearance, 
with  ye  Eldrs  &  Deacons  of  the  Church. 

Hee  brings  a  paper  rather  in  the  Justification  of  him- 
selfe  in  his  answer  then  otherwise,  and  denyes  what  is 
alleaged  against  him  by  Do  Renslaer  therein. 

After  long  debate,  ye  Do  and  ye  rest  of  ye  Elders  and 
Deacons,  seeme  to  allow  in  words,  what  is  denyde  in 
writing,  vizt  That  a  Minister  Ordayned  in  England  by 
the  Bishops  is  every  way  Capable  &c. 

Time  is  given  them  to  Consider  againe  well  amongst 
themselves  and  give  a  finall  Resolution  in  answr  to  the 
Order  of  Councell,  to  morrow. 


70 


Dutch  Church . 


There  were  before  the  Councell. 

Do  Newenhuysen  Minister,  Mr  Jeronimus  Ebbing,  Mr 
Peter  Stoutenberg  Elders;  Mr  Jacob  Teunisse  Kay.  Mr 
Reyneer  Willemse.  Mr  Gerritt  Van  Tright,  Mr  Isaack 
Van  Vleck  Deacons 

The  next  day  they  brought  in  their  paper  amended, 
with  all  Submission. 

At  a  Councell  Septr  8th  1676.  Present.  The  Govern¬ 
or  Capt.  Brockholes.  The  Secretary.  Capt.  Dyre. 

Upon  Informacon  that  Do  Renslaer  (one  of  the  Min¬ 
isters  att  Albany)  is  confined  by  the  Magistrates  there, 
upon  matter  of  some  dubious  words  spoken  by  the  said 
Do  in  his  Sermon  or  Doctrine. 

It  is  ordered,  That  the  said  Do  bee  releast  from  his  Im¬ 
prisonment,  and  any  matter  concerning  the  same  is  to  bee 
heard  here. 

At  a  Meeting  of  the  Governor  in  Councell,  and  Minis¬ 
ters  of  ye  Citty  of  New  Yorke,  Sept.  15th,  1676. 

The  occasion  was  the  returne  of  the  appeale  in  the  case 
between  Do  N.  Renslaer  and  Mr  Jacob  Leysler,  and  Mr 
Jacob  Milburne,  had  before  ye  Court  &  Consistory  at  Al¬ 
bany. 

Ordered,  That  as  Do  Renslaer  hath  putt  in  Security  of 
fifteen  hundred  Guildrs  hollands  money  for  to  prosecute, 
so  ye  said  Leysler  and  Milburne  are  to  putt  in  ye  like 
Security  to  make  good  their  Charge. 

Ordered,  That  Mr  Leysler  do  besides  himselfe,  put  in 
one  or  two  others  as  Security  for  five  thousand  pound  by 
to  morrow  before  noone. 

Sept  the  16th.  The  Ensuing  Warr1  was  sent  up  to 
Albany. 

By  the  Governor 

Whereas  Mr  Jacob  Millburne  hath  accused  Do  Nicho¬ 
las  Renslaer  for  words  spoken  by  him  in  a  Sermon  at 
Albany  on  the  13th  Last  past,  the  which  having  made  a 
great  disturbance  and  been  before  the  Church  Officers  and 
Court  there,  and  at  last  remitted  here  in  order  to  a  de¬ 
termination  ;  In  case  the  same  be  nott  already  taken  up 
and  Composed  before  this  comes  to  your  hands,  These 


Dutch  Church . 


71 


are  in  his  Maties  name  to  require  you,  to  cause  ye  said 
Milburne  to  give  in  sufficient  Security*  to  the  value  of  one 
thousand  pound  for  his  appearance  to  prosecute  and  an¬ 
swer  the  matters  relateing  thereunto  according  to  Law ; 
which  if  hee  shall  refuse  to  do,  that  he  be  committed  to 
safe  Custody  into  ye  Sheriffs  hands,  of  the  which  you  are 
not  to  faile,  and  to  make  a  speedy  returne  hereof ;  Given 
under  my  hand  in  New  Yorke,  Septem  ye  16th  1676, 

E.  Andross. 

To  ye  Commander  and  Magistrates  at  Albany. 

Septr  the  18th 

Mr  Leysler  not  obeying  the  Order  of  the  Govenor  in 
Councell  of  the  15th  Instant,  was  by  the  Governors  spe- 
ciall  Warrant  committed  into  the  Custody  of  the  Sheriff: 

The  Warr1  was  as  folio weth.  viz1 


By  the  Governor 

Whereas  Mr  Jacob  Leysler  of  this  City  hath  accused  Do 
Nicholas  Renslaer  for  words  spoken  by  him  in  a  Sermon 
at  Albany,  on  the  13th  last  past,  the  which  having  made 
a  great  disturbance  and  been  before  the  Church  Officers 
and  Court  there,  and  at  last  remitted  here  in  Order  to  a 
determination,  but  ye  said  Leysler  not  having  given  Se¬ 
curity  according  to  Law  and  Order;  These  are  in  his  Ma¬ 
ties  name  to  require  you  forthwith  to  take  ye  person  of 
the  said  Jacob  Leysler  into  your  Custody,  and  him  safely 
to  keep  in  Order  to  a  determinacon  according  to  Law; 
for  the  which  this  shall  be  your  sufficient  Warrant :  Given 
under  my  hand  in  New  Yorke  this  18th  day  of  September, 
1676 


E.  Andross. 

To  ye  Sheriff  of  New  Yorke,  or  his  Deputy. 


At  a  Councell.  Septr  23th  1676  Present.  The  Go¬ 
vernor  &  Councell.  The  Mayor  &  Aldermen  The 
Ministers  of  ye  City. 

Upon  reading  all  Evidences  &  papers  relating  to  the 
difference  betweene  Do  Nich:  Renslaer-  and  Mr  Jacob 
Leysler  and  Mr  Jacob  Millburne,  but  ye  said  Millburne 
not  being  present,  nor  any  Authorized  from  him 


72 


Dutch  Church . 


Resolved,  That  if  all  parties  are  willing  to  stand  to 
the  friendly  and  amicable  determinacon  made  by  the 
Church  Officers  or  Kerken  Raat  at  Albany,  and  referr  ye 
matter  of  Charges,  (which  was  ye  only  obstruction  then) 
to  ye  Governor  and  Councell  and  persons  above,  That 
then  they  will  proceed  to  a  finall  Determinacon  therein; 
Rut  if  not  then  a  short  day  shall  be  appointed  for  hearing 
all  parties  and  taking  such  further  Resolves  and  order 
therein  as  ye  Case  shall  require;  All  parties  to  have  Cop- 
pies,  and  bring  in  their  Answers  by  ye  first  returne  from 
Albany, 

Mr  Stepffi  Van  Cortland  for  Do  Renslaer,  and  Mr  Jacob 
Leysler  for  himselfe  doe  desire  an  Issue  may  be  putt  to 
ye  buisnesse  in  question. 

Extraordinary  Court  holden  at  Albany 

28th  Septr  1676.  Post  Meridiem 

Present  Capt  Salisbury,  Commander.  Capt  Thom  Do 
Lavall.  Rich1  Pretty,  Dirck  Wessells,  Pr  Winne, 
Capt  Phil  Schuyler,  Andr  Teller,  Jan  Thomase, 
Marte  Gerritse,  Mr  Siston,  Sheriff. 

Dom  Schaets,  Dom.  Renzelaar  and  some  witnesses  ap¬ 
pearing  in  Court  (all  the  papers  in  the  difference  between 
the  two  above  named  Dominies  being  examined  &  re¬ 
viewed)  they  are,  by  order  of  the  Governor  to  be  recon¬ 
ciled  according  to  Christian  Duty  and  love,  as  it  specially 
becomes  such  servants  of  God’s  word.  Whereupon  the 
above  named  Ministers,  answer,  They  are  willing  to  be 
reconciled  with  all  their  hearts. 

Dom  Schaets  declares  the  twelve  men,  whom  he  ac¬ 
cused  of  Partiality  in  a  Letter  written  to  the  Consistory 
of  New  York,  to  be  honorable  persons,  and  say  that  all 
such  occurred  foolishly,  requesting  forgiveness 

Doctor  Corn:  Van  Dyck,  representing  the  Consistory, 
Complains  that  Dom:  Schaets  being  sent  for  on  two  oc¬ 
casions  by  the  Consistory,  refused  to  come  to  them  in  di¬ 
rect  violation  of  the  Law  of  the  Church. 

Dom:  Schaets  says  that  he  was  in  the  first  instance 
declared  Interested,  because  he  had  rendered  in  writing 
his  opinion  of  Dom:  Renselaar's  preaching,  but  that  wag 


J)utch  Church* 


73 


not  done  to  excite  parties,  confessing  to  have  acted 
very  improperly  and  they  too  in  like  manner. 

Whereas  various  differences  have  arisen  and  sprung 
up  between  the  two  Ministers  wherein  Dom:  Schaets 
charged  and  accused  Dom ;  Renselaer  with  false  preach? 
ing;  and  Dom:  Renselaer  thereupon  Replied  that  it  was 
a  false  lie,  Dom :  Schaets  is  therefore  ordered  to  prove 
the  same,  who  forthwith  drew  forth  a  little  Book  contain- 
ing  divers  old  comments  which  the  W :  Court  neither  ac? 
cepted  nor  received 

Their  Worships  ask  parties  if  they  will  leave  and  re* 
fer  their  differences  to  their  W’s  decision? 

Who  answered,  Yes. 

Thereupon  the  W:  Court  resolved  unanimously  and  by 
plurality  of  Votes,  that  Parties  shall  both  forgive  &  forget 
as  it  becomes  Preachers  of  the  Reformed  Religion  to  do; 
also  that  all  previous  variances,  church  differences  and 
disagreements  &  provocations  shall  be  consumed  in  the  fire 
of  Love,  a  perpetual  silence  and  forbearance  being  imposed 
on  each  respectively,  to  live  together  as  Brothers  for  an 
example  to  the  worthy  Congregation,  for  edification  to  the 
Reformed  Religion  and  further  for  the  removal  and  banish? 
inent  of  all  scandals,  and  in  case  hereafter  any  difference 
may  occur  or  happen  between  them,  they  shall  seek  re? 
dress  from  the  Consistory,  to  be  heard  there;  but  parties 
not  being  content  with  its  award,  the  Consistory  shall 
then  state  to  the  Governor  who  is  in  fault  who  shall  then 
be  punished  according  to  the  exigency  of  the  case.  In 
like  manner  each  was  warned  not  to  repeat  or  renew  any 
more  former  differences  or  variances,  under  a  penalty  to 
be  fixed  by  their  worships  of  the  Court. 

At  a  Councell  Qctober  23tli  1676.  Present  The  Go? 
vernour  &  Councell.  Some  of  ye  Aldermen.  The 
Ministers  of  this  City. 

Upon  a  Return  from  Albany,  The  matter  concerning  yft 
charges  about  ye  Difference  between  Domine  Renslaer, 
and  Mr  Leysler  &  Milburne,  now  referred  by  all  party s 
to  the  determinacon  of  the  Governor  and  Counccll,  the 
game  being  taken  into  Copsideracop  The  Rpsuing  Qrdff 
was  made  yist 


74 


Dutch  Church. 


Whereas  there  was  an  amicable  &  friendly  agreem1 
made  by  the  Church  Officers  (or  Rerken  Raat)  at  Albany 
of  the  Difference  between  Do  Nicholas  Renslaer  on  the 
one  part,  and  Jacob  Leysler  and  Jacob  Miiburne  on  the 
other,  only  as  to  the  matter  of  Charge,  the  which  was 
referred  to  ye  Governor  and  Councell  here. 

The  same  being  taken  into  Consideration,  It  is  Or¬ 
dered,  That  Jacob  Leysler  and  Jacob  Miiburne  doe  pay 
the  whole  charge  both  at  Albany  and  here,  as  giving  the 
first  Occasion  of  the  Difference,  and  that  Do  Renslaer 
bee  freed  from  bearing  any  part  thereof,  and  this  to  be  a 
finall  end  and  determinacon  of  the  matter  betweene  ye 
partyes  upon  tfii§  occasion. 


MINISTER'S  HOUSE  AT  ALBANY. 

Albany  6  Feb,  1678-9. 

Dorn:  Gid:  Schaets  appears  in  Court  with  Jan  Vinna- 
gen  Elder  and  the  2  Deacons  Mr  Jan  Janse  Bleeker  and  Mr 
Hend:  Cuyler  representing  the  W.  Consistory  who  freely 
without  any  persuasion  promise  to  convey  and  give  a 
proper  Deed  of  the  house  occupied  at  present  by  Dom : 
Gideon  Schaets  to  be  for  the  future  a  residence  for  the 
Minister  at  Albany,  for  the  benefit  of  the  Congregation 
of  the  Reformed  Church  here;  as  the  house  was  built  out 
of  the  Poor’s  money,  and  now  being  decayed,  the  W. 
Court  promises  to  repair  said  house  and  keep  it  in  good 
order  fit  for  a  Minister,  for  which  purpose  it  shall  be 
conveyed. 

Ordinary  Court  held  at 

Albany  6  July,  1680. 

The  W :  Consistory  of  this  city  being  sent  for  to  Court, 
and  being  requested  by  their  Worships  to  contribute 
something  to  the  repair  and  building  of  Dom:  Schaets 
house,  being  for  the  good  of  the  Commonalty;  the  W. 
Consistory  consent  to  contribute  the  sum  of  one  thousand 
guilders  #ewant,  for  the  reparation  of  the  said  house, 


Dutch  Church. 


75 


DIFFICULTIES  BETWEEN  DOM.  SCHAETS  AND  HIS 
CONGREGATION. 

Extraordinary  Court  holden  at 

All  any  1st  April  1681. 

This  Extraordinary  Court  is  held  at  the  request  of  the 
Elders  and  Deacons  of  the  Reformed  Church  here,  who 
apply  to  the  Gentlemen  and  request  their  assistance  in¬ 
asmuch  as  the  head  of  their  Consistory  Dom:  Gideon 
Schaets  refuses  to  visit  them  for  the  purposes  of  holding 
religious  meetings  in  the  Church,  the  usual  appointed 
place  by  the  Consistory — Having  undertaken  to  speak  to 
the  Domine  of  the  trouble  which  he  caused  some  of  the 
Members,  in  direct  opposition  to  the  office  of  a  Teacher, 
especially  at  this  conjuncture  of  Time  when  the  Lords 
supper  was  so  near  at  hand;  after  the  Consistory  had 
done  its  duty  &  part  to  the  utmost  on  the  29.  March  last, 
and  not  knowing  but  it  had  accomplished  everything, 
and  every  matter  of  difference  had  been  settled  for  the 
time  (having  been  admonished  in  the  temper  of  Love  & 
Christian  duty)  Anneke  his  daughter  consenting  willing¬ 
ly  to  absent  herself  the  next  time  from  the  Holy  Table 
of  the  Lord  on  her  father’s  proposal,' and  as  it  was  her 
duty,  so  as  to  prevent  as  much  as  possible  all  Scandals  irj. 
Christ’s  flock;  as  it  is  evident  we  have  done  our  utmost 
in  sending  for  the  aforesaid  Domine  to  visit  us  to-day, 
which  he  hath  wholly  refused,  We  therefore  request  that 
tfleir  worships  will  please  send  for  the  said  Domine  and 
ask  him  if  all  matters  of  difference  &c  were  not  arranged 
at  the  last  Consistorial  meeting  on  29  March  last  and 
wherefore  does  he  now  rip  up  new  differences  and  offen- 
ces  contrary,  to  his  duty  &  office. 

Whereupon  their  Worships  sent  Wm  Parker  the  Court 
Messenger  to  request  him  to  come  to  court;  who  answer¬ 
ed  that  the  Consistory  had  sent  him;  whereunto  the 
Eode  said,  The  Court  sent  for  your  Reverence  not  the 
Consistory.  He  replied — he  would  not  come. 

The  Bode ‘is  sent  a  2d  time  to  tell  him  that  he  must  in¬ 
stantly  appear  before  the  Court.  He  answered,  he  would 
not  appear  before  the  Court,  though  they  should  dismiss 
him. 


76 


Dutch  Church. 


The  Bode,  sent  for  the  third  time,  found  him  not  at 
home  but  his  daughter  Anneke  said,  I’ll  go  and  ask  him; 
and  haying  asked  him  said,  Mine  Father  will  not  come; 
they  may  do  what  they  please,  for  the  magistrates  are 
wishing  to  make  me  out  a  W - . 

The  Bode  being  sent  the  fourth  time  reports  as  before. 

Whereupon  is  Resolved,  to  send  the  constable  Jacob 
Sanders  with  a  special  Warrant  after  him,  to  bring  him 
here  before  the  Court. 

Who  having  visited  the  house  and  being  unable  to  find 
him  the  constable  then  asked  his  Daughter,  Anneke 
Schaets,  where  her  father  was?  She  answered — Know 
you  not  what  Cain  said?  Is  he  his  Brother’s  keeper  ?  Am 
I  my  father’s  keeper?  Whereupon  the  constable  told  her 
that  she  should  let  him  bring  hini.  To  which  she  an¬ 
swered,  she  had  nobody  for  him  to  bring,  and  had  she  a 
dog,  she  should  not  allow  him  to  be  used  by  the  Magis¬ 
trates  for  such  a  service.  The  Magistrates  had  their  own 
Bode. 

The  constable  having  been  sent  for  the  second  time 
spoke  to  Dom  Schaets  at  Hend:  Cuyler’s  house,  who 
gave  for  answer  that  he  should  not  go  before  the  Court 
if  the  Consistory  were  there;  but  if  the  Consistory  was 
not  present,  he  would  appear  before  the  Court. 

Whereupon  the  W.  Court  considering  the  great  in¬ 
convenience  his  suspension  should  cause  the  Congrega¬ 
tion  have  through  condescension  sent  him  word  that  the 
Magistrates  only  will  speak  to  him  without  the  Consist¬ 
ory.  [His  suspension  was  written  out  &  read  to  him] 

At  last,  Dom:  Schaets  appeared  in  Court  and  he  is 
asked  why  he,  who  should  afford  a  good  example  to 
others,  hath  shown  contempt  to  his  Court  by  refusing  on 
their  reiterated  summons,  to  appear  before  them;  de¬ 
manding  Satisfaction. 

Whereupon  it  appears  at  first  that  Dom:  was  much 
dissatisfied  and  demanded  his  demission  from  their  wor¬ 
ships;  but  at  last  considering  his  committed’ offence,  he 
excused  himself  and  requested  exceedingly  that  he  should 
be  forgiven,  and  not  severely  dealt  by,  and  hereafter 
nothing  should  be  laid  to  his  charge,  promising  to  obey, 


/ 


Dutch  Church.  77 

for  the  future,  his  lawful  superiors,  requesting  that  all  be 
reconciled — which  was  done. 

Further  all  matters  and  disputes  between  him  and  his 
Consistory, — Mr  Dauid  Schuyler  Mr  Dirck  Wessels, 
Elders;  Wouter  Albertse  van  den  Uthoff  &  Gert  Lansing 
Deacons,  were  arranged  in  love  and  friendship  in  presence 
of  the  Court  aforesaid;  Dom:  Schaets  admitting  he  was 
under  a  misconception. 

Memorandum. 

On  the  9th  of  June  1681,  Anneke  Schaets,  wife  of  Tho: 
Davidtse  Kekebel,  is  sent  to  her  husband  at  N.  York,  by 
order  and  pursuant  to  letters  from  the  Commander  in 
Chief  with  a  letter  of  recommendation;  but  as  she  was  so 
headstrong  and  would  not  depart  without  the  Sheriff  & 
Constable’s  interference,  her  disobedience  was  annexed  to 
the  letter. 

Albany  5th  July  1681. 

Anneke  Schaets  who  was  sent  to  N.  York  by  their  Wor¬ 
ships  on  the  9th  June  last  pursuant  to  letters  and  orders 
from  the  Commander  in  Chief  Capt  Antho  Brockholes  is 
come  back  here  in  the  same  Sloop,  and  brings  this  follow¬ 
ing  recommendation  which  is  in  terms 

N.  York  June  ye  27th  1681. 

Gentlemen  Wee  have  thought  fitt  to  acquaint  yout  hat 
Thomas  Davis  and  his  wife  Anneke  Schaets  are  suffered 
to  goe  up  for  Albany  in  order  to  settle  their  affairs  there, 
We  Recommend  yow  to  endeavour  a  Reconciliation  be¬ 
tween  them  if  Possible  otherwise  if  Parties  desire  it, 
deside  their  differences  by  Law,  having  due  Regard 
to  their  Jointure  or  heuwelyx  foorwaerde,  wch  is  all  at 
Present  from  Your  Loveing  ffriend  ^ 

Antho  Brockholes. 

Extraordinary  Court  holden  in  Albany 

29tli  day  July  A.  Dom.  1681, 
Tho:  Davidtse  promisses  to  conduct  himself  well  and 
honorably  towards  his  wife  Anneke  Schaets,  to  Love  & 
never  neglect  her  but  faithfully  and  properly  to  maintain 
and  support  her  with  her  children  according  to  his  means, 
hereby  making  null  and  void  all  questions  that  have 


78 


Dutch  Church. 


occurred  and  transpired  between  them  both,  never  to  re¬ 
peat  them,  but  are  entirely  reconciled;  and  for  better 
assurance  of  his  real  Intention  and  good  resolution  to  ob¬ 
serve  the  same,  he  requests  that  two  good  men  be  named 
to  oversee  his  conduct  at  N.  York  towards  his  said  wife, 
being  entirely  disposed  and  inclined  to  live  honorably  & 
well  with  her  as  a  Christian  man  ought,  subjecting  him¬ 
self  willingly  to  the  rule  and  censure  of  tlje  said  men. 
On  the  other  hand  his  wife  Anneke  Schaets  promises 
also  to  conduct  herself  quietly  &  well  and  to  accompany 
him  to  N.  York  with  her  children  &  property  here,  not 
to  leave  him  any  more  but  to  serve  and  help  him  and 
with  him  to  share  the  sweets  and  the  sours  as  becomes  a 
Christian  spouse;  Requesting  all  differences  which  had 
ever  existed  between  them  both  may  be  hereby  quashed 
and  brought  no  more  to  light  or  cast  up,  as  she  oh  her 
side  is  heartily  disposed  to. 

Their  Worship,  of  the  Court  Recommend  parties  on 
both  sides  to  observe  strictly  their  Reconciliation  now 
made,  and  the  gentlemen  at  N.  York  will  be  informed 
that  the  matter  is  so  far  arranged. 


EARLY  NEGOTIATIONS  WITH  THE  REV.  MR.  DELLIUS. 

Fr  m  the  Albany  City  Records. 

Extraordinary  Court  holden  at 

Albany  6  Augst  1683 

The  W:  Commissaries  assembled  in  consequence  of 
the  arrival  of  the  new  Minister  Dome  Godefridus  Dellius 
who  reached  here  on  the  2d  instant  pursuant  to  the  request 
and  letters  of  this  Court  to  the  Venerable  Classis  of 
Amsterdam. 

And  whereas  by  consent  and  approval  of  this  Comon- 
alty  a  second  Domine  is  sent  for  to  assist  the  old  Dorn: 
Schaets,  it  is  therefore  resolved  to  call  the  Congregation 
together  to  enquire  of  them  in  a  friendly  manner  how 
much  they  will  from  their  -  own  Liberality  and  good  in¬ 
clination  contribute  to  the  maintenance  of  the  sd  Dom: 
Godefridus  Dellius  whereupon  the  following  Burghers 


Dutch  Church. 


79 


9 

have  freely  contributed  to  the  Salary  of  said  De  Gode- 
fridus  Dellius,  &  that  for  the  term  of  one  year. 


Peter  Schuyler  ps  of  8 . 

Cornells  Van  Dyck . 

Derek  Wessels . 

David  Schuyler . 

Marte  Gerritse . 

Ands  Teller . 

Gert  Swart . 

Jan  I.  Bleker . 

Hend.  Van  Ness . . . 

Pr.  Winne . . . 

Johannes  Provoost . 

Richd  Pretty . . . 

Joh:  Wendell . 

Jan  Lansingh . 

Gabriel  Thompson . 

Johannes  Wandelaer . 

Albt  Rykman . 

Lawrence  van  ale . 

Evert  Wendell  Junr . 

Harme  Basteanse . 

Pr.  Davitse  Skuyler . 

Melgert  Wynantse . 

Jan  Becker  Senr . 

Wynant  Gerritse . 

Turck  Harmense . 

Hendk  Bries . . . 

Jacob  Abrahamse . . 

Jan  and:  Cuyper . 

Myndt  Harmense ....  ....  . 

Gert  hardenbergh . 

Cornel  van  Skelluyne ...... 

Jacob  Sanderse . 

W m  Kettelheyn . 

Jan  Byvank . 

Jan  Nack . 

Johannes  Roos . 

Cobus  Turk . , . 

Wouter  Albertse . 

Takel  Dirkse. . . 

Jan  salomonse . 

Hend.  Martense . 

Johannes  V  Sante . 

Pieter  Looker  mans . 

Cobus  Gerritse . 

Evert  Wendell  Senr . 

Wm  Gerritse . 

Johannes  Martense  Smitt.. 

[  Annals ,  vi.] 


6  Jan  Cornelise  vandrhoef. ...  1 

6  Jacob  Voss .  1 

6  Jacob  Meesen .  2 

6  Paulus  Martense . .  l| 

6  Pr  Bogardus .  3 

6  Gert  Lansingh .  3 

2  Hendn  Lansingh.. .  2 

6  Jan  Van  haegen .  3 

4  Joseph  Yetts . 0| 

3  Jacob  Ten  Eyck .  2 

3  Claes  Ripse .  2 

4  Claes  Jacobse .  2 

6  Jahannes  Cuyler. . . .  . .  3 

4  Robt  Livingston .  5 

4  Adriaen  Gert  V  Papendorp.  6 

2  Marte  Cregier .  4 

4  Lambt  van  Valkenburgh.  . .  1 

2  Jurean  Teunise .  1^ 

4  Jacob  Staets . .  2 

2  Barent  Myndertse .  2 

2  Arnout  Cornelise  (viele) ....  2 

2  Annetje  van  Schayk .  6 

2  Jochim  Staets . .  3 

2  Gert  Banken . .  .  3 

]  Philip  Schuyler’s  widow...  8 

2  Hend  Cuyler .  G 

2  Johannes  Thomase .  2 

2  Teunis  Slingerlunt .  2 

6  Harme  d’  Brower .  2 

4  Hend  Abelse .  1 

1  Jean  Rosie .  1 

4  Wm  Claese .  2 

2  Gysbt  Marcelis .  2 

3  Bastiaen  Harmense .  1 

2  Hend  Hansen .  l 

2  Matthys  Meesen .  2 

1  Robt  Sanderse .  6 

2  Joh:  Roseboom .  3 

1  Joh:  Abeel  Sister .  3 

1  Eghbert  Teunise .  5 

1  Jan  Gow........  . .  2 

1  Jan  Gilbert .  1| 

1  Gert  Van  Ness .  2 

1  Joh:  Oothout  Junr .  1 

2  Pr  Meuse .  1 

1  John  White .  2 

2  NB.  These  reside  up  be- 

8 


80 


Butch  Church . 


yond  the  North  Gate  and 
were  spoken  to  by  D.  Wes- 

Gert  Lubbertse. ........... 

N  B.  Farmers  below 

2 

sels  &  J.  Bleker:— 

Jacob  janse  gardinier . 

4 

Antho  Barentse . 

2 

Jeronemus  Hansen . . 

1 

Wouter  Aretse . . . . . 

2 

Wm  Van  Slyk . 

2 

Jan  d’  Noorman . 

1 

Gert  Gysbertse. . . . 

4 

Gerrit  Ryerse . 

1 

Frederick  d’  Drent. . 

2 

Claes  van  Eockhoven ...... 

H 

Hend:  Maesen . 

2 

Pr  Quackenboss . . 

2 

Hen  Van  Wie . 

1 

Wouter  Pieterse. . . 

1 

Ryk  Machielse . 

1 

Jan  Pieterse . . . 

1 

Onnocre  the  Frenchman. . . . 

1 

Reynier  Pieterse . 

1 

Jan  Hendricxe ....  . . . 

2 

Do  we  Funda. . . . 

l 

Mart  Cornelise . 

3 

Marte  Janse. . . 

1 

Jurian  Callier. . . . 

l 

Adam  Winne . . 

1 

Claes  Van  Petten . . 

2 

Jacob  Salomonse. . . 

2 

Cornelise  Teunise.  . . 

2 

Teunis  vandr  Poel . . 

6 

Abraham  Van  Bremen . 

T 

Luykes  Pieterse . 

1 

Melgert  Abrahamse . 

2 

Antho  van  Schayk . 

4 

Jan  Thomase . 

0 

Teunis  Teunise,  Mason .... 

4 

Cobus  Janse. . . 

1 

Ands  d1  Backer . . 

2 

Johannes  Janse . 

1 

Meus  hoogeboom . 

it 

Albert  Cato. . 

2 

Roelof  Gerritse . 

l 

Manus  Borgerse . 

1 

Harme  Lievese . 

3 

Geertruy  Vosburgh . 

2 

Jan  Grutterse . 

2 

Jacob  Vorsburgh . 

U 

Jan  Van  Ness . 

Bart  Alb  Bratt . 

2 

4 

Jacob  Claesc. . . 

l 

Gert  Hendrix . } 

Ands  Carstense ......... ) 

H 

Pieces  of  8 . . 

Whereon  Dc  Godefridus  Dellius  is  sent  for  and  he  is 
asked  if  he  hath  any  further  letters  or  documents  besides 
what  he  had  delivered  to  the  Court,  especially  the  No¬ 
tarial  contract  dated  20  July  1682  executed  in  Amsterdam 
by  the  Notary  Public  David  Staffmaker  Verlet  whereby 
the  Dome  was  accepted  for  the  term  of  four  years,  begin- 
ing  as  soon  as  the  ship,  in  which  he  would  leave  Am¬ 
sterdam,  had  been  gone  to  sea  outside  Texel,  and  that  for 
the  sum  of  eight  hundred  guilders  a  year,  payable  in 
Beavers  a  8  gl.  each  or  600  skepels  of  Wheat,  at  the 
option  of  sd  Dorn*.  Dellius,  besides  a  free  house;  but 
should  he  the  Domine  marry  his  salary  should  be  increased 
100  gl.  beavers,  but  as  his  Reverence  was  so  unfortunate 
that  the  ship  in  which  he  was  to  take  his  passage  sailed 
from  Dover  on  the  very  day  his  Reverence  arrived  in 
London  so  that  his  Reverence  was  obliged  to  return  to 


Dutch  Church. 


81 


Holland,  aud  put  to  sea  again  last  April,  with  Jan  Gorter, 
with  whom  he  has  now  arrived. 

Their  Worships  find  that  in  further  elucidation  of  said 
general  Contract  the  Agents  Rykd  van  Rensselaer  &  Abel 
de  WollfF  and  said  Dome  agreed  that  his  term  of  Office 
shall  commence  on  the  day  when  Henry  Bier  went  last 
year  to  sea,  as  his  Reverence  was  then  ready  to  leave; 
his  term  commencing  on  the  15th  August  1682  &  ending 
on  the  15th  August  1686,  but  with  the  express  condition 
that  his  salary  shall  not  date  earlier  than  the  day  his 
Reverence  put  to  sea  with  Skipper  Jan  Gorter:  And 
whereas  we  have  been  advised  by  letters  from  our  cor¬ 
respondents  that  his  Reverence  is  not  wholly  satisfied 
about  his  salary  being  in  Beavers  or  Wheat  knowing 
nothing  about  such  things,  and  imagines  such  is  greatly 
to  his  prejudice,  whereupon  said  Rensselaer  &  De  Wolff 
have  written  to  us  in  his  behalf,  requesting  that  the  pay¬ 
ment  of  his  salary  may  be  made  as  nearly  as  possible  in 
Holland  currency. 

Therefore;  their  said  Worships  maturely  considering 
the  contribution  as  well  as  the  clause  in  the  aforesaid  no¬ 
tarial  contract,  to  the  effect  that  should  Dome  Schaets 
die  meanwhile,  the  aforesaid  De  Dellius  should  receive 
the  same  salary  as  De  Schaets  had  &  enjoyed,  allow  Dom : 
Dellius  aforesaid  the  sum  of  Three  hundred  pieces  of 
Eight  or  one  hundred  and  fifty  Beavers  being  fl.  1200  in 
Beavers,  which  is  two  hundred  guilders  in  Beavers  more 
than  Dom:  Schaets  ever  had  or  received,  as  a  testimony 
of  their  good  disposition  towards  him  and  especially  for 
his  Teaching  with  which  their  Worships  and  the  con¬ 
gregation  declare  themselves  well  satisfied,  doubting  not 
but  his  Reverence  will  be  specially  content,  it  being  300 
gl.  above  the  Notarial  contract. 

The  Magistrates  further  resolve  that  if  they  can  obtain 
any  thing  more,  either  from  the  Governor  or  congregation, 
the  sd  Dom:  shall  be  remembered.  And  Mr  Marte  Ger- 
ritse  &  Com:  Van  Dyck  communicate  this  to  his  Rev¬ 
erence. 

Pieter  Schuyler  and  Albert  Ryckmans  Deacons  are 
authorized  to  receive  the  new  Domine’s  Money,  and  to 
keep  account  thereof. 


82 


Dutch  Church. 


Dome  Dellius  informs  the  Magistrates,  through  the 
Secretary,  that  he  shall  adhere  to  his  Notarial  contract — 
that  is  as  second  minister  of  Albany — and  that  for  such 
sum  as  the  Magistrates  allow  him;  hut  he  presumes 
their  "Worships  pay  little  regard  to  the  Recommendation 
of  the  Agents  who  requested  them  to  pay  the  salary 
agreed  on  in  Holland  currency;  and  expresses  himself  not 
over  satisfied  with  the  Magistrates  resolution  regarding 
the  fixing  his  salary  a  300  pieces  of  eight. 

Extraordinary  Court  holden  at  Albany 

13  August  1683 

The  Magistrates  are  again  met  to  fix  the  salary  of  Dom : 
Godefridus  Dellius,  and  the  contribution  of  the  con¬ 
gregation  being  calculated,  it  was  Resolved  that  said  De 
Dellius  shall  enjoy  yearly  the  sum  of  nine  hundred  guil¬ 
ders  Holland  currency  payable  in  pieces  of  eight  a  forty 
stivers  each,  or  in  Merchantable  Beavers  counted  a  Two 
pieces  of  eight  each,  and  his  Reverence  shall  receive  his 
money  quarterly  on  condition  that  if  Dc  Schaets  should 
grow  feeble  or  die,  Dom:  Dellius  shall  perform  the  whole 
duty. 

His  Reverence  is  further  told  that  if  the  Magistrates 
should  agree  with  the  Inhabitants  of  Schinnectady  re¬ 
garding  Divine  Service  to  be  performed  there,  either  once 
a  month  or  once  in  six  weeks,  said  Dellius  shall  take  his 
turn  with  Dom:  Schaets  to  edify  said  congregation,  with¬ 
out  being  paid  additional  for  it,  as  such  sum  of  money 
shall  be  for  the  benefit  of  this  congregation. 

Dom:  Dellius  is  further  informed  that  their  Worships 
desire  to  be  satisfied  about  the  time  of  the  Dorn’s  sojourn 
here,  as  his  contract  mentions  only  four  years,  where¬ 
upon  Dom:  Dellius  gives  the  Magistrates  for  answer,  that 
he  cannot  tell  what  extraordinary  things  may  happen ;  but 
his  Intention  and  disposition  are  to  remain  here  with  this 
congregation,  wherewith  the  Court  is  fully  satisfied. 

Resolved  that  a  letter  be  written  to  the  Venerable. 
Pious,  and  very  Learned  the  Ministers  and  members  of 
the  very  Revd  the  classis  of  Amsterdam  assembled  at 
Amsterdam,  sincerely  thanking  their  Rev:  for  their 
Fatherly  care  in  sending  over  the  Revd  pious  &  Learned 


Dutch  Church,  83 

Dom:  Godefridus  Dellius,  with  whom  the  Congregation 
is  highly  pleased. 

Resolved,  also  to  write  to  Sieur  Richd  Van  Rensselaer 
Sc  Sieur  Abel  d’  WollfF  to  thank  them  heartily  for  the 
trouble  they  have  taken,  in  finding  out  the  Rev.  pious  & 
learned  Dom:  Godefridus  Dellius  who  arrived  here  on  the 
2d  instant,  to  the  gret  joy  of  every  one,  and  whose 
preaching  was  heard  with  the  greatest  satisfaction  &  con¬ 
tentment. 

Extraordinary  Court  holden  at  Albany 

6  July  1685 

The  Consistory  of  this  City  appearing  in  Court  inform 
their  worships  that  Dom:  Godefridus  Dellius  resigned 
his  office  as  Minister  last  Thursday  at  the  Consistorial 
assembly,  and  requests  his  demission  as  his  Reverence  is 
advised  of  a  call  for  him  to  Heuclem  in  P atria.  To 
which  his  Rev.  was  answered  that  it  was  a  matter  of  no 
small  importance,  and  should  therefore  communicate  it 
to  the  old  Consistory  next  Monday;  and  the  Members 
aforesaid  being  assembled,  the  inquiry  was  made  if  the 
Classis  had  sent  letters  to  them  by  Dom:  Dellius,  but 
none  were  found ;  On  the  contrary  the  letters  were  sent 
to  the  Court  and  therefore  he  was  referred  to  the  Court 
through  whom  he  was  called  &  to  whom  he  was  con¬ 
signed. 

Whereupon  Dom :  Dellius  appeared  in  Court  and  in*  - 
formed  their  worhips  that  he  requested  his  demission 
from  the  Consistory,  who  referred  him  to  their  worships; 
and  as  it  is  directly  contrary  to  the  order  of  the  Nether¬ 
lands  Church,  to  demand  demission  from  the  political 
authority,  he  therefore  requests  that  he  may  receive  his 
demission  from  the  Consistory,  and  if  not,  a  Certificate. 

Their  Worships  learn  with  great  grief  and  surprise 
the  proposition  and  communication  of  Dom:  Dellius:  re¬ 
quest  to  know  the  reasons  of  his  Reverences  departure 
and  if  his  Rev:  is  not  satisfactorily  paid  his  salary.  It 
is  their  worships’  Opinion  that  should  he' act  thus,  it  will 
be  a  violation  of  his  promise,  whereby  he  pledged  himself, 
when  his  salary  was  raised,  on  his  arrival,  from  900  gl. 
Beaver  to  900  gl.  Hollands,  that  he  should  not  leave  this 
Congregation  unless  something  extraordinary  occurred; 


84 


Dutch  Church . 


2ndly  as  the  call  has  not  been  exhibited,  they  require  to 
see  it,  considering  that  it  is  a  very  strange  thiug  to  call 
a  Minister  from  America,  where  he  is  so  necessary. 

His  Reverence  says  that  he  is  promptly  paid  to  his  full 
contentment  and  satisfaction,  but  being  advised  of  a  call 
to  Heuckelum,  which  he  cannot  now  exhibit,  he  is  wholly 
disposed  to  return  home  and  prosecute  his  advancement. 

Whereupon  their  W :  desire  to  know  what  advancement 
his  Reverence  looks  for;  that  they  should  recommend  it, 
for  their  W?  considering  that  Dom:  Schaets,  their  old 
minister,  is  very  feeble :  and  again  that  it  was  requisite 
he  should  remain  under  existing  circumstances,  when  so 
many  strange  shepherds  are  lifting  up  their  heads  as  we 
daily  see ;  but  the  Dom :  persisting  in  his  proposal  to  de¬ 
part,  and  should  no  demission  be  given  him,  he  reqired  a 
simple  certificate  for  he  was  fully  resolved  to  return  Home 
and  nothing  should  persuade  him  to  remain  even  though 
he  left  without  a  certificate. 

Their  W:  of  the-court  by  &  with  the  advice  of  the  com 
sistory  both  new  &  old,  resolved,  if  Dornine  Dellius  is  in 
no  way  to  be  persuaded  to  remain,  that  he  may  then  go 
but  on  his  own  authority,  and  that  no  Demission  can  be 
given  him,  it  being  contrary  to  the  Will  and  Inclination 
of  the  Congregation. 

Die  Mercury  8th  do  1685. 

The  Consistory  informs  their  W :  of  the  Court  that  the 
Rev.  Dom:  Godv.  Dellius  proposed  to  them  as  he  perceives 
the  unwillingness  of  the  Congregation  to  let  him  depart, 
that  he  will  conclude  to  remain  until  the  Spring,  and 
jeopardize  his  call  so  long,  in  order  to  preserve  the  sheep 
from  all  straying  at  this  Conjuncture,  on  condition  that 
he  shall  depart  for  Patria  in  the  spring  &  that  in  the  first 
ship.  Meanwhile  letters  shall  be  written  by  him  &  the 
Consistory  to  the  Classis  of  Amsterdam,  Gorcum  &  to 
the  City  of  Heuclum  to  procure  another  Minister  in  his 
place,  in  which  he  shall  perform  his  duty. 

Their  W:  of  the  Court  answer  the  Consistory  that  they 
can  inform  Dom:  Dellius  that  if  his  Rev:  will  resolve  to 
remain  some  years,  they  shall  be  well  pleased  to  do  their 
duty  in  affording  every  satisfaction  in  the  world ;  but  if 


Dutch  Church 


85 


not  his  Rev:  may  adhere  to  his  previously  adopted  Re¬ 
solution, 


PETITION  OF  THE  REVD  MR  LYDIUS, 

To  his  Excellency  Edward  Lord  Viscount  Cornbury 
her  Majes  Cap1  Genii  and  Govr  in  Cheiffe  of  ye  Pro¬ 
vince  of  New  Yorke,  and  of  New  Jersey,  and  of  all 
the  tracts  and  territories  of  land  depending  thereon  in 
America,  and  Vice  Admiral  of  y°  same  etc,  and  to  y6 
Honourable  Councill  of  ye  said  Province  of  New  York, 

The  humble  Petition  of  Johannis  Lydius  Minister  att 
Albany,  Humbly  sheweth: 

How  that  your  petitioner  in  obedience  to  your  Excel¬ 
lency’s  directions  hath  to  the  Out  most  of  his  erdeavors 
made  itt  his  practice  to  instruct  Indians  of  y°  Five  Na* 
lions  in  the  Christian  faith,  for  which  service  your  Ex¬ 
cellency  and  Councill  hath  been  pleased  to  allow  your 
humble  petitioner  a  sailary  at  sixty  pounds  per  annum. 

Your  humble  petitioner  doth  therefore  most  humbly 
pray  your  Excellency  and  Councill  will  be  pleased  to 
grant  him  a  warrant  on  yc  Collector  or  Receiver  Generali 
for  one  years  saliary  in  ye  service  as  aforesaid,  which  is 
expired  the  first  of  November  1703,*  and  your  humblo 
petitioner  as  in  duty  bound  shall  ever  pray  &c. 

Johannes  Lydius. 

Albany  the  30  of  December  1703, 

#  In  Council  Min.  IX.  48,  June  13,  1702,  is  an  entry  in  which  Mr. 
Lydius  is  styled  “Minister  of  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church  at  Sche? 
nectady.”  The  statement  that  he  came  to  this  country  in  1703,  which 
some  persons  have  made,  is  therefore  incorrect.  His  son,  John  Henry 
Lydius,  who  was  a  prominent  Indian  Trader  in  the  Colony  of  N. 
York,  died  in  Kensington,  near  London,  in  1791  aged  98,  having  rev 
tired  to  England  in  1776.  There  is  a  Biographical  notice  of  him  in  the 
Gent.  Mag:  vol  61.  p.  3S3,  which  we  refer  to  here  only  for  the  pur* 
pose  of  putting  the  Historical  Student  on  his  guard  against  sqme  parts 
of  it  which  contain  more  poetry  thtan  truth. 


86 


Dutch  Church. 


PETITION  FOR  REBUILDING  THE  DUTCH  CHURCH  IN 

ALBANY. 

To  His  Excellency  Robert  Hunter  Esqr  Cap1  Generali 
and  Governour  in  Chief  of  the  provinces  of  New  York 
New  Jersey  and  Territories  thereon  Depending  in 
America  and  vice  Admiral!  of  the  Same  &c 

The  Humble  Petition  of  Petrus  van  Driesen  Minister 
of  the  Nether  Dutch  Reformed  Congregation  of  the  City 
and  County  of  Albany  and  the  Elders  and  Deacons  of  the 
said  Congregation,  Humbly  Sheweth 

That  the  Predecessors  of  your  Excellency’s  humble 
Petitionrsin  the  year  of  our  Lord  1655  &  1656  when  this 
towne  was  Settled  did  with  assistance  of  the  then  nether 
dutch  Congregation  build  and  Erect  at  their  own  proper 
Cost  and  Charge  the  Church  belonging  to  the  said  con¬ 
gregation  (Standing  &  being  in  the  said  City)  for  their 
Christian  devotion  and  Pub  lick  worship  of  Almighty  god, 
in  the  Exercise  of  the  Reformed  protestant  Religion, 
which  Church  is  Since  been  Confirmed  to  the  Mayor 
Alderman  &  Commonalty  of  ye  Said  City  by  Charter, 
under  the  Seale  of  the  Province. 

That  the  said  Church  being  built  of  timber  &  boards  is 
by  time  so  much  decaya  that  they  find  themselves  under 
the  necessity  of  building  a  new'  one  in  its  place  and  your 
Petitioners  believing  your  Excellencys  Continance  and  ap¬ 
probation  will  be  very  advantageous  to  them,  in  this  their 
undertaking. 

Your  Exeys  Petitioners  do  therefore  most  humbly  pray 
that  your  Excellency  will  please  to  approve  and  Encour¬ 
age  this  pious  work  by  signifying  such  your  approbation 
and  your  petitioners  as  in  duty  bound  shall  Ever  pray  &e 

Petrus  van  Driessen  V.  D.  Praeco 

Johannes  Rooseeoom 

Myndert  Schuyler 

Hendr  van  Rensselaer 

Johannis  Beekman 

Rutger  Bleecker 

Stevanie  groesbeck 

I  do  approbe  of  what  is  desired  In  the  petition  and  re¬ 
commend  the  Same  to  all  who  are  concernd 

18  June  1714  Ro;  Hunter' 


Dutch  Church . 


87 


PETITIONS  FOR  THE  INCORPORATION  OF  THE  DUTCH  CHURCH. 

To  the  Honble  Peter  Schuyler  Esqr  President  and  the 
Rest  of  his  Majesties  Councill  of  the  Province  of  New 
York  and  the  Territories  depending  thereon  in  Ame¬ 
rica. 

The  Humble  Petition  of  Petrus  van  Driesen  Minister 
of  the  Reformed  Protestant  Dutch  Congregation  in  the 
City  of  Albany  Joannis  Cuyler  Joannis  Roseboom  Hen¬ 
drick  van  Rensiaer  Willem  Jacobse  van  Deusen  present 
Elders  for  the  same  aud  Rutgert  Bleecker  Yolkert  van 
Veghten  Myndert  Roseboom  and  Dirk  Ten  Broek  present 
Deacons  of  the  said  Church.  Most  Humbly  Sheweth. 

That  the  said  Minister  Elders  and  Deacons  and  other 
the  members  in  Communion  of  the  said  Reformed  Protest¬ 
ant  Dutch  Church  have  at  their  own  charge  built  and 
erected  a  Church  within  the  City  of  Albany  and  dedi¬ 
cated  the  same  to  the  service  of  Cod,  and  have  allso 
purchased  Certain  two  Tenements  and  Lotts  of  ground 
for  a  Poor  or  alms  house  and  for  a  Ministers  dwelling 
house;  and  sundry  other  small  Tracts  of  Land  within  the 
said  City  the  Rents  and  incomes  whereof  are  by  them  (as 
they  were  allso  by  their  Predecessors  since  they  were 
Possessed  of  them)  employed  for  the  relief  of  the  Poor 
and  other  Persons  and  charitable  uses.  And  the  Peti- 
tionrs  further  say  that  they  and  their  predecessors  have 
for  many  yeares  before  this  Province  was  under  the 
Government  of  the  Crown  of  great  Brittain  and  ever 
sinse  Peaceably  and.  quietly  had  and  enjoyed  the  full  and 
free  Exercise  of  the  Protestant  Religion  iu  the  Dutch 
Language  according  to  the  Cannons  Rules  Institucons  and 
Church  Government  Established  by  the  Nationall  Synod 
held  and  assembled  in  the  City  of  Dort  in  Holland  in  the 
3'ear  1618  and  1619- 

And  the  Petitionrs  humbly  conceive  and  are  advised 
that  they  and  their  Successors  would  be  the  better  ena-. 
bled  to  employ  the  Rents  and  incomes  of  the  Lands  and 
Tenements  aforesaid  for  Pious  and  Charitable  uses  if  they 
were  incorporated  as  some  other  of  the  Protestant  re¬ 
formed  Dutch  Churches  in  this  Province  are. 


88 


Dutch  Church. 


They  therefore  most  Humbly  Pray  yor  Honours  that 
the  Peticonrs  and  their  Successors  may  be  Incorporated 
by  Letters  Patent  under  the  great  seal  of  this  Province 
with  such  or  the  like  Priviledges  and  Liberties  as  are 
granted  to  the  Minister  Elders  and  Deacons  of  the  Re¬ 
formed  Protestant  Dutch  Church  in  the  City  of  New  York 
and  that  the  said  Church  and  the  aforesaid  Tenements 
and  Lotts  of  ground  and  other  the  Tracts  and  Parcells  of 
Land  aforesaid  may  be  Confirmed  unto  them  and  their 
Successors  for  ever  under  such  moderat  Quit  rent  as  unto 
yor  Honors  shall  seem  meet. 

And  yor  Petitionrs  as  in  Duty  bound  shall  ever  Pray 
&c —  Petrus  Nan  Driesen 

V  D  M 

Nomine  Synodij. 

New  York  3'1  day  of  August  1720. 

To  the  Honble  Peter  Schuyler  Esqr  President  and  the 
Rest  of  his  Majesties  Councill  of  the  Province  of 
New  York  and  the  Territories  depending  thereon  in 
America. 

The  Humble  Petition  of  Petrus  van  Driesen  Minister 
of  the  Dutch  Protestant  Congregacon  in  'the  City  of 
Albany  Joannis  Cuyler  Joannis  Roseboom  Hendrik  van 
Renselaer  and  Willem  Jacobse  van  Driesen  the  present 
Elders,  Rutger  Blceker  Volckert  van  Vegten  Myndert 
Roseboom  and  Dirk  ten  Broeck  the  present  Deacons  of 
the  same — Most  Humbly  Sheweth 

That  yor  Petitionrs  did  lately  most  humbly  pray  yor 
Honors  to  grant  unto  them  and  their  Successors  Letters 
Pattent  under  the  Great  Seal  of  this  Province  for  incor¬ 
porating  them  with  such  and  the  like  Priviledges  and 
Liberties  as  heretofore  granted  to  the  Reformed  protest- 
ant  Dutch  Church  in  the  City  of  New  York  together  with 
a  Confirmation  of  all  such  Lands  and  Tenements  as 
they  now  hold  to  and  for  the  use  of  the  said  Congrega¬ 
con — 

But  so  it  is  may  it  please  yor  Honors  that  one  Mr 
Hendrik  Hansen  of  the  City  of  Albany  has  entered  a 
Caveat  against  the  passing  of  the  said  Patent  under  pre¬ 
tence  that  the  Dutch  Church  erected  in  the  City  of  Albany 


Dutch  Church. 


8$ 


is  built  on  some  part  of  the  ground  belonging  to  the  said 
Mr  Hansen,  and  altho  yor  Petitionrs  can  easily  make  ap¬ 
pear  that  the  said  pretence  is  groundless  and  only  made 
up  of  by  the  said  Hansen  to  delay  yor  Petitionrs  in  the 
Presenting  and  obtaining  of  the  said  Patent. 

They  therefore  most  Humbly  Pray  that  for  the  Remov¬ 
ing  of  all  difficultyes  and  objections  that  may  be  raised 
against  the  passing  of  the  said  Patent  a  Clause  may  be 
inserted  in  the  Same  to  save  the  Right  and  Title  of  all 
manner  of  persons  to  the  Lands  and  Tenements  or  any 
part  thereof  which  the  Petitionrs  by  their  former  petition 
did  Humbly  pray  to  be  Confirmed  unto  them  and  their 
Successors. 

And  yor  Petitionrs  as  in  Duty  bound  shall  ever  Pray 
&c.  Petrus  Van  Driesen 

V  D  M 

Nomine  'Sijnodeii. 

New  York  6tli  Aug  1720 


REPORT  ON  THE  FOREGOING. 

May  it  please  your  Honour 

In  Obedience  to  your  Honors  order  in  Councill  of  the 
6th  of  this  jnstant  Referring  to  us  the  Petition  of  Petrus 
van  Driessen  Minister  of  the  Dutch  Protestant  Congrega¬ 
tion  in  the  City  of  Albany;  Johannis  Cuyler,  Johannis 
Roseboom,  Hendrick  Van  Renselaer,  Willim  Jacobse  Van 
Deursen  the  present  Elders,  Rutgert  Bleaker,  Volkert 
Van  Veghten  Myndert  Roseboom  and  Dirk  Ten  Broek 
the  present  Deacons  of  the  Same,  We  have  not  only 
Maturely  considered  of  the  Same,  But  likewise  of  their 
former  Petition  to  the  same  purpose  bearing  date  the  3 1  of 
this  jnstant  and  also  of  a  Caveat  against  the- Prayer  of 
the  Said  Petitions  Entred  by  Mr  Wileman  in  behalf  of 
Hendrick  Hansen  bearing  date  the  4th  jnstant. 

And  in  regard  of  the  Said  Congregation  is  one  of  the 
Longest  Standing  in  this  Government  and  that  they  have 
ever  since  enjoyed  the  free  Exercise  of  their  Discipline  and 
Worship,  We  do  Judge  the  prayers  of  the  said  Petitions 
very  reasonable,  and  therefore  are  of  Opinion,  that  yor 
Honour  may  Grant  a  Patent  of  Encorporation  under  the 


90  Dutch  Church . 

Broad  seal,  of  this  Province  to  the  said  Minister  Elders 
and  Deacons  and  their  Successors  for  Ever  for  the  free 
use  and  Exercise  of  their  said  Religion  and  Worship  ac¬ 
cording  to  the  Cannons  Rules  Institutions  and  Church 
Government  Established  by  the  National  Synod  held  and 
assembled  in  the  City  of  Dort  in  Holland  in  the  years 
1618  and  1619  and  also  such  and  the  like  Liberties  and 
Priviiedges  as  are  Granted  to  the  Ministers  Elders  and 
Deacons  of  the  Dutch  Reformed  Churches  in  the  City  of 
New  York  and  of  the  Township  of  Kingstown  respective¬ 
ly  with  such  Variations  and  additions  as  may  be  proper 
and  agreeable  to  the  Present  Circumstances  of  the  said 
Congregation  and  that  a  Clause  ought  to  be  inserted  that 
the  Yearly  Rents  and  jncomes  of  the  Lands  and  Tene¬ 
ments  now  held  by  them  or  hereafter  to  be  holden  by 
them,  shall  not  exceed  the  Sume  of  three  hundred  pounds 
Current  money  of  this  Province  pr  ann 

We  are  likewise  of  Opinion  that  not  only  the  Said 
Dutch  Church  but  also  the  several  Lands  and  Tenements 
of  which  the  said  Congregation  by  Several  mean  Convey¬ 
ances  now  stands  seized  and  possessed  of  Scituate  lyeing 
and  being  within  the.  City  and  Corporation  of  Albany  be¬ 
ing  particularly  mentioned  in  a  Schedule  or  List  hereun- 
,  to  annexed,  may  in  the  said  Patent  of  Incorporation  be 
Confirmed  unto  the  said  Minister  Elders  and  Deacons  and 
to  their  Successors  for  Ever  Vnder  the  Yearly  Rent  or  ac¬ 
knowledgement  of  one  Pepper  Corn  (if  demanded)  Save- 
ing  nevertheless  the  Right  and  Title  of  all  manner  of 
Persons  Body  Politick  and  Corporate  to  the  aforesaid 
Lands  and  Tenements  or  any  part  or  parcel  thereof 
all  which  is  nevertheless  (humbly  submitted  by 

Your  Honours  Most  Obed1  humble  Servants 

A  D  Peyster 

New  York  Aug.  the  8th  1720.  R  Walter 

Gerard:  Beekman 
John  Barberie 
A.  Philipse 


Dutch  Church. 


91 


ORDER  TO  PREPARE  A  PATENT. 

By  the  Honble  Peter  Schuyler  Esqr  President  of  his 
Majesties  Councill  for  the  Province  of  New  York  in 
council. 

l  ou  are  hereby  authorized  and  required  to  prepare  the 
Draft  of  Letters  patent  for  incorporating  the  Reformed 
protestant  Dutch  Church  in  the  City  of  Albany  and 
making  of  them  one-body  corporate  and  politick  to  them 
and  their  Successors  forever  by  the  name  of  the  Minis' 
ters  Elders  and  Deacons  of  the  reformed  Protestant  Dutch 
church  in  the  city  of  Albany  the  reverend  Petrus  van 
Driesen  being  their  present  minister  Johannes  Cuyler 
Johannes  Roseboom  Henry  van  Ranselaer  and  William 
Jacobsen  van  Dcursen  being  the  present  Elders  Rutgert 
Bleecker  Volkerst  van  Veghten  Myndert  Roseboom  and 
Direk  Ten  Broeck  being  the  present  Deacons  of  the 
said  Church  for  the  fFrce  use  and  exercise  of  their  religion 
and  worship  according  to  the  Canons  rules  institutions 
&  church  Government  established  by  the  National  Synod 
of  Dort  in  Holland  in  the  years  of  Our  Lord  Christ  1618 
and  1619  with  such  and  the  libertys  and  priviledges  as 
are  granted  to  the  Ministers  Elders  and  deacons  of  the 
reformed  protestant  Dutch  church  in  the  city  of  New 
Aork  or  to  the  Minister  Elders  &  Deacons  of  the  Reform* 
ed  Protestant  Dutch  church  of  the  town  of  Kingstown  in 
Ulster  County  with  such  variacons  additions  or  omis¬ 
sions  as  they  may  have  found  most  proper  and  agreeable 
to  their  present  circumstances  from  the  usage  and  pre¬ 
sence  of  others.  Provided  always  that  the  yearly  income 
of  their  demesnes  whereof  they  are  now  or  hereafter 
shall  become  seized  and  possessed  shall  not  exceed  the 
sum  of  three  hundred  pounds  lawfull  money  of  the  Colo¬ 
ny  of  New  York  And  you  are  by  the  Draft  of  the  said 
Letters  Patent  to  Grant  and  confirm  to  them  &  their 
successors  and  assigns  for  ever  all  the  tenements-&  heri- 
dataments  whatsoever  whereof  they  arc  now  seized  and 
possessed  to  and  for  the  sole  and  only  proper  use  benefit 
and  behoof  of  the  aforesaid  minister  elders  and  deacons- 
of  the  reformed  protestant  Dutch  Church  in  the  City  of 
Albany  their  successors  and  assigns  forever  saving  never* 

[Annals,  vi.]  9 


92 


Dutch  Church. 


theless  the  right  &  title  of  any  other  person  or  persons, 
body  corporate  and  politick  whatsoever  to  any  of  the 
aforesaid  tenements  or  hereditaments  or  to  any  part  or 
parts  of  any  of  them  yielding  and  paying  therefore  year¬ 
ly  and  every  year  forever  unto  Our  Lord  the  King  his 
heirs  and  successors  forever  the  annual  rent  of  one 
peppercorn  on  the  feast  of  the  annunciacon  of  the  blessed 
Virgin  Mary  comonly  called  Lady  day  in  lieu  &  stead  of 
all  other  rents  services  dues  duties  and  demands  whatso¬ 
ever  the  particular  description  and  limits  and  boundaryes 
of  their  present  demesnes  conteind  in  a  certain  schedule 
hereunto  annexed  and  for  yor  so  doing  this  shall  be  your 
sufficient  Warrant  Dated  as  above. 

Given  under  my  hand  &  seal  at  arms  at  fort  George  in 
New  York  this  tenth  day  of  Aug1  in  the  seventh 
year  the  Reign  of  our  sovereign  Lord  George  by  the 
Grace  of  God  of  Great  Brittain  ffrance  and  Ireland 
King  defendr  of  the  faith  &c  annoq  Doi  1720. 

To  David  Jamison  Esq  Attorney  Generali  of  the  pro¬ 
vince  of  New  York. 


SCHUDALE  OR  LIST  OF  LANDS  AND  TENEMENTS  TO  BE  CON¬ 
FIRMED  UNTO  THE  MINISTER  ELDERS  AND  DEACONS  OF 
ALBANY. 

The  Dutch  Church  Scituate  lying  and  being  in  the  said 
City  of  Albany  in  the  high  street  otherwise  called  the 
yonkers  street  nigh  the  bridge  Containing  in  length  on 
the  South  side  seaven  Rodd  three  foot  four  jnches  on  the 
North  side  seaven  Rood  three  foot  one  Inch  Ryn  land 
measure  in  breadth  on  the  East  and  West  Side  Sixty  one 
foot  and  five  Inches  wood  measure — dat  21  st  Deer  1714 
As  allso  a  Certain  Messuage  or  Tenement  or  Lot 
of  ground  Commonly  Called  the  Dutch  Ministers  house 
scituate  lying  and  being  in  the  City  aforesaid  in  the  Brew¬ 
ers  street  on  the  East  side  thereof  in  the  third  Ward 
of  the  said  City  being  in  front  from  the  South  to  the 
North  five  Rodd  tenn  Inches  and  behind  towards  the 
River  six  Rodd  Fiveteen  Inches  Ryn  land  measure  and  in 
length  from  the  Street  to  the  City  Stockadoes  bounded  on 
the  South  side  by  Jan  Salomonz  on  the  north  side  by 


I 


Dutch  Church .  93 

that  late  of  Hans  Hendricks  and  the  vviddovv  of  David 
Schuyler.— datd  15  July  1692. 

As  allso  a  Certain  Messuage  or  Tenement  and  Lot  of 
Ground  Scituate  lying  and  being  in  the  City  aforesaid 
Commonly  called  the  Poor  or  alms  house  being  in  the 
first  Ward  of  the  said  City  bounded  to  the  South  by  the 
high  street  that  leads  to  the  burying  place  to  the  North 
of  Rutters  kill  to  the  East  by  Harman  Rutgers  and  to  the 
West  by  Gerrit  Banker  Conteining  in  breadth  towards 
the  street  that  leads  to  the  Lutheran  Church  by  the  said 
Rutters  kill  six  rodd  one  Foot  and  the  like  breadth  in  the 
Rear  in  Length  on  the  East  side  Eight  Rodd  wanting 
three  Inches  on  the  West  side  Eight  rodd  and  Two  Inches 
all  Ryn  land  measure,  dat  4th  Deer  1685 

As  allso  all  that  Certain  parcell  of  Land  commonly 
called  or  known  by  ye  name  of  ye  Pasture  scituate  lying 
and  being  to  the  Southward  of  the  said  City  near  the 
place  where  the  old  Fort  stood  and  extending  along 
Hudsons  River  till  it  come  over  against  the  most  north¬ 
erly  Point  of  the  Island  commonly  Called  and  known  by 
the  name  of  Marten  Gerritsens  Island  having  to  the  East 
Hudsons  River  to  the  South  the  manor  of  Renslaerwyck 
to  the  West  the  highway  that  leads  to  the  City  aforesaid 
the  Pastures  now  or  late  in  the  Tenure  and  Occupation 
of  Martin  Gerrits  and  the  Pasture  now  or  late  in  the 
Tenure  and  Occupation  of  Kasper  Jacobs  to  the  north  the 
severall  Pastures  late  in  the  Tenure  and  occupation  of 
Robert  Sanders  Myndert  Harmens  and  Evert  Wendell  and 
the  Several  gardens  late,  in  the  Tenure  and  Occupation 
of  Dirk  Wessels  Kiljan  van  Renselaer  and  Abraham 
Staats  together  with  the  old  highway  from  the  Bevers 
kill  to  the  end  of  Schermerhoorns  Pasture  adjoining 
to  the  same  on  the  West  side  thereof,  dat  4th  Deer  1688 
As  also  all  that  Certain  Parcel  of  Pasture  Land  scitu¬ 
ate  lying  and  being  to  the  South  of  the  said  City  to  the 
West  of  the  Pasture  last  menconed  near  and  about  the 
Limitts  of  the  said  City  on  the  manor  of  Renselaarwyck 
Conteining  in  breadth  along  the  waggon  way  six  and 
Twenty  Rodd  &  in  Length  towards  ye  woods  25  Rod  and 
also  a  Certain  garden  Lot  of  ground  Scituate  lying  and 
being  in  the  great  Pasture  Conteining  in  breadth  six  rodd 


94 


Dutch  Church . 


and  five  foot,  in  Length  eight  rodd  and  two  foot  anc 
stretching  backwards  with  another  small  lot  of  three  rode 
two  foot  in  length  and  in  breadth  one  Rodd  and  two  Too' 
all  Rynland  measure — 3 1st  Deer  LOO 
New  York  3d  day  of  August  1720. 


LICENCE  TO  BUILD  A  CHURCH  FOR  THE  MOHAWKS. 

By  his  Excy  & c. 

Whereas  the  Reverend  Mr  petrus  Van  Driesen  of  the 
County  of  Albany  having  represented  unto  me  the  neeessi 
ty  of  erecting  and  building  a  publick  meeting  house  for  the 
Indians  in  the  Mohawk  Country  in  the  County  of  Alban] 
an  order  for  the  more  commodious  and  frequent  assem 
bling  of  themselves  together  for  the  Solem  worship  o 
Cod  wch  might  be  a  means  of  bringing  over  as  well  the 
Indians  there  as  those  in  ye  adjacent  parts  to  ye  know 
ledge  of  the  principles  of  the  Christian  religion  &  ha; 
therefore  made  application  to  me  for  my  lycence  & 

Cor  that  purpose  now  for  the  furtherance  of  wch  gooe 
Design  I  do  by  virtue  of  the  powers  and  authoritys  unte 
me  granted  by  virtue  of  his  Majestys  Lres  patent  unde: 
the  great  Seal  of  Great  Brittain  Give  and  grant  unto  thi 
said  petrus  Van  Driesen  full  power  Liberty  Leave  &  Ly 
•cence  to  Erect  &  build  a  meeting  house  for  the  Indian 
in  the  Mohawks  Country  in  order  to  ye  assembling  o 
.themselves  together  for  ye  solemn  worship  of  God  am 
that  on  any  part  of  the  Lands  to  them  belonging  as  shal 
be  found  most  Convenient  for  the  purposes  aforesaid 
Given  &c 


The  Rev.  Job.  Megapolensis  and  Samuel  Drisius,  writ 
ing  to  the  Classis  of  Amsterdam,  Aug.  5,  1657.  on  th 
state  of  religion  in  the  province,  say: 

Last  year  Domine  Gideon  Schaats  wrote  to  your  Rev 
erences  concerning  the  congregation  in  Renselaers  am 
BeverWyck,  as  he  also  shall  again  do.  The  condition  o 
the  congregation  there  is  most  favorable;  it  grow 
stronger  apace  so  as  to  be  almost  as  strong  as  we  ar 
here  at  Manhatan.  They  built  last  year  a  handsom 
preaching  house.  [Doc.  Hist.,  iii,  104.] 


(95) 


THE  GREAT  COMET  OF  1680. 

From  O’ Callaghan's  Documentary  History,  vol.  iii,  p.  882. 


THE  COMMISSARIES  OF  ALBANY  TO  CAPT.  BROCKHOLES.* 

1st  Jan’y  1681. 

IIoNd  Sir  According  to  former  Practise  in  this  Scasox? 
of  ye  Year  wee  hare  sent  this  Post,  to  acquaint  yow,  ho\V 
all  afFares  are  here  wl  us,  which  is  (thanks  be  to  God)? 
all  in  Peace  &  quietnesse,  The  Lord  continue  ye  Same, 
throw  ye  hole  Governm1  wee  doubt  not  but  yow  have  seen 
ye  Dreadfull  Cornett  Starr  wh  appeared  in  ye  southwest, 
on  ye  9th  of  Decembr  Last,  about  2  a  clock  in  ye  after¬ 
noon,  fair  sunnshjme  wether,  a  litle  above  ye  Sonn,  well 
takes  its  course  more  Northerly,  and  was  seeh  the  Sun¬ 
day  night  after,  about  twv-Light  with  a  very  fyry  Tail 
or  Streemer  in  y"  West  To  ye  great  astoneshment  of  all' 
Spectators,  &  it  is  now  seen  every  Night  wl  Clear  weath> 
er,  undoubtedly  God  Threatens  us  wh  Dreadfull  Punish¬ 
ments  if  wee  doe  not  Repent,  wee  would  have  caused  ye 
Dornine  Proclaim  a  Day  of  fasting  and  humiliation  to 
morrow  to  be  kept  on  Weddensday  ye  12  Jan  in  ye  Town 
of  Albany  &  Dependencies — if  wee  thought  our  Power  & 
autority  did  extend  so  farr,  and  would  have  been  well 
Resented  by  Yourself,  for  all  persons  ought  to  humble 
Themselves  in  such  a  Time,  and  Pray  to  God  to  With¬ 
draw  his  Righteous  Jugements  from  us,  as  he  did  to  Nin- 
eve  Therefore  if  you  would  be  pleased  to  graunt  your 
approbation  wee  would  willingly  cause  a  day  of  fasting 
&  humiliation  to  be  kept,  if  it  were  monthly;  whose 
answer  wee  shall  Expect  with  ye  Bearer. 

We  cannot  forbear  to  acquaint  you  wl  ye  verry  great 
Scarcety  of  Corne  throughout  our  Jurisdiction,  which  is 
Ten  times  more  then  was  Expected,  now  when  y?  People 
Thresh,  soo  yl  it  is  Supposed,  there  will  scarce  be  Corne 
To  supply  ye  Inhabitants  here,  wl  Bread.  This  is  all  at 

*  Albany  City  Records, 


96 


The  Great  Comet  of  1680. 


present  wishing  yow  &  counsell  a  happy  N.  Year  shall 
break  off  &  Remain. 

The  Indian  Wattawitt  must  have  a  Blankett  &  shirt 
att  York. 

Your  humble  &  oV  Servants 

Ye  Commiss.  of  Albany. 

.  New  Yorke  Jan’y  13th  1680. 

Gentlemen,  Yor’s  of  the  first  Instant  by^the  Indian 
post  recevd  and  am  glad  to  here  all  things  Well,  wee  haue 
seen  the  Cornett  not  att  the  time  you  mention  only  in  the 
Evening  The  Streame  being  very  large  but  know  not  its 
predicts  or  Events,  and  as  they  Certainly  threaten  Gods 
Vengence  and  Judgments  and  are  prmonitors  to  us  Soe  I 
Doubt  not  of  yor  and  each  of  yor  performance  of  yr 
Duty  by  prayer  &c.  as  becomes  good  Christians  Especi¬ 
ally  at  this  time,  &  hope  the  next  Yeare  will' make 
amends  for  an  supply  yr  present  Scarcety  of  Corne,  The 
Governor  went  hence  the  7th  and  sailed  from  Sandy  point 
the  Eleventh  Instant  Noe  news  here  but  all  well  I 
remaine 

Yor  affectionate  ffriend 

A.  Brockholles. 


(97) 


CHURCH  OF  KINDERHOOK. 


[The  church  at  Kinderhook  being  intimately  identified 
with  that  at  Albany,  the  following  records  are  appropri¬ 
ately  introduced  herefrom  the  Council  Minutes,  vol.  ix.*] 


PROCEEDINGS  AGAINST  PAULUS  VAN  VLECK. 

In  Councill  12  Nov  1702 

His  Excellency  in  Councill  being  informed  that  one 
Paulus  van  Vleck  hath  lately  wandered  about  the  country 
preaching  notwithstanding  he  hath  been  formerly  forbid 
by  his  Excellency  to  do  the  same  and  is  lately  called  by 
some  of  the  Inhabitants  of  Kinderhook  to  be  their  Clark 
without  any  License  from  his  Excellency  for  so  doing. 
It  is  hereby  ordered  that  the  high  Sheriff  of  the  county 
of  Albany  do  take  care  to  send  the  sd  Van  Vleck  down 
by  the  first  oppurtunity  to  answer  his  contempt  before 
this  board. 

D  •  to  Coll  Schuyler. 


CERTIFICATE  IN  HIS  FAVOR. 

Kinderhook  the  30  of  Novemb.  Anno  Domine  1702. 

In  the  first  year  of  the  Reign  of  her  Majesty  Anne, 
Queen  of  England,  Scotland  Ireland  and  France,  Defender 
of  the  Faith,  We  the  undersigned  inhabitants  of  Kinder¬ 
hook  patent  acknowledge  and  Declare  that  Paulus  van 
Vleg  during  the  whole  of  the  time  that  he  hath  resided 
here  and  since  he  was  accepted  as  Precentor  and  school¬ 
master  of  our  Church  hath  truly  comported  himself  to 
the  Great  content  of  our  congregation,  and  that,  in  all 
the  time  he  was  forbid  to  preach  he  hath  never  preached 
in  house  or  barn  or  in  any  place  in  Kinderhook,  but  that 
he  performed  the  office  of  precentor  as  one  Hendrick 

*  See  O’Callaghan’s  Documentary  History,  vol.  iii,  p.  894. 


98  Church  of  Kinderhook . 

Abelsen,  before  his  death,  hath  done  at  Kenderhook;  We 
have  received  said  Paulis  van  Vleg  because  one  Joghem 
Lamersen  (who  was  our  Precentor  here)  hath  resigned 
the  precentorship  and  frequently  complained  that  he  could 
not  perform  its  Duties  any  longer.  We  further  declare 
that  the  above  named  Paulus  van  Vleg  never  took  away 
the  key  of  our  church,  but  that  we  brought  it  to  him  in 
his  house  Yohannes  van  Alen 

CoENRAET  BORGHGHRDT 

Abram  van  Alstyn 

Lammert  van  Yansan 


THE  SHERIFF  OF  ALBANY  TO  SECY.  COZENS. 

Albany  Jany  ye  15th  1702-3. 

Sr  Yours  of  the  10th  Decembr  came  safe  to  my  hands 
with  an  inclosed  Order  of  Councell  for  the  speedy  sum¬ 
monsing  of  Johannis  Van  Alen  Coenradt  Borghghrdt, 
Abrahm  van  Alstyn  and  Herman  van  Jansen,  the  three 
former  I  have  discharged  my  Duty  by  sending  them  to 
my  Lord  &  Councell,  as  dyrected,  but  the  latter  Herman 
van  Jansen,  is  not  to  be  found  within  my  Liberty,  no  man 
Knowing  such  a  person  in  this  County,* 

Sr  I  have  nothing  more  to  trouble  you  with  only  to 
assure  jrou  that  I  shall  allwaj's  be  very  carcfull  to  ex¬ 
ecute  all  Orders  I  shall  Receive  from  the  Govermt  And 
make  a  true  returne  of  the  same  by  the  first  opportunity. 

Sr  Your  Humb  Ser1 

Jacob  Fiesch  Saerf. 


COENRAET  BURGERT’S  PETITION. 

* 

[  To  his  Excellency  Edward  Lord  Vice  Count  Corn- 

BURY  &C  &C  &C. 

The  humble  petition  of  Coenraet  Burgert,  humbly 
sheweth. 

That  whereas  your  Lordship’s  Petitioner  is  sumoned 
by  the  Sheriff  of  the  Citty  and  County  of  Albany  by  a 
sumons  from  Your  Lordship, and  Councill  to  apear  be¬ 
fore  your  Excelly  &  Councell  In  New  Yorke  And  whereas 

*The  warrant  was  intended  for  u  Lambert”  Van  Jansen,  but  ‘‘Her¬ 
man”  was  inserted,  it  appears,  by  mistake. 


99 


Church  of  Kinder  hook. 

I  demanded  a  Copy  of  the  Sumonce  from  the  Sheriff  & 
would  give  him  all  Due  Satisfaction  therefore  which  he 
Denyed  to  give  me,  soe  that  as  yett  I  know  not  what  is 
aleadged  against  me;  therefore  Your  Excelly  &  Councills 
petitioner  humblys  Begs  Your  Excelly  favour  to  Refer  the 
Case  till  the  Spring  of  the  year  by  Reason  of  the  Could 
Winter  and  Ilconveniencys  to  my  Great  Damage  of  my 
family  or  If  Your  Excell:  Would  be  Pleased  to  Referr  the 
Case  to  be  Decided  by  any  Justice  or  Justices  of  the 
Peace,  In  Our  County  whom  your  Lordship  shall  Please 
to  apoint  which  favour  the  Knowledge  of  yr  Excellencys 
honour  and  Justice  gives  me  no  Reason  to  Doubt:  of  and 
your  Petitioner  as  In  Duty  bound  shall  always  Pray. 

CoENRAET  BORGHGHRDT. 

28th  January  1702.  • 

Read  in  Councill  &  Rejected 


THE  SHERIFF  OF  ALBANY  TO  SEC.  COZENS. 

Albany  Merch  ye  2d  1702-3. 

Sr  Yors  of  yc  26th  Jany  came  safe  to  my  hands  and 
was  Surprised  to  find  that  the  three  men  I  summoned  by 
order  of  Councell  have  liot  made  their  appearance;  for 
they  gave  me  faithfull  assurance  of  their  faithfull  perform¬ 
ance,  I  have  according  to  order  sumond  Lammert  van 
Jansen  and  allso  spook  to  the  other  three,  so  that  all  four 
designe  to  be  at  the  Councell  before  next  week  Expires; 
as  to  your  other  Letter  concerning  the  No  of  Males  &c 
wth  in  this  County  I  shall  answare  with  all  the  Expedi¬ 
tion  that  may  be,  which  is  all  from  Sr 

Your  most  humble  Serv1 

Jacob  Fiesch. 

In  Council  11th  March  1702. 

John  Van  Alen  Coenraedt  Borghghrdt  Abraham  van 
Alstyn  and  Lammert  Jansen  appeared  before;  this  Board 
this  day  in  obedience  to  an  order  of  Councill,  and  they  ac¬ 
knowledging  their  error  &  submitting  themselves  thereon 
were  discharged  with  a  caution  to  be  more  careful!  for  the 
future. 


(  100 ) 


NOTES  FROM  THE  NEWSPAPERS. 

Continued  from  vol.  v,  p.  7. 


1813. 

Bank  Speculations.—' The  banking  capital  of  the  state 
was  at  this  time  $20,350,000,  exclusive  of  $810,000  which 
the  state  reserved  the  privilege  of  subscribing,  making 
an  aggregate  of  $21,160,000.  Notices  were  given  of  ap¬ 
plication  for  the  incorporation  of  18  more  banks,  with  an 
aggregate  capital  of  $15,250,000.  Three  of  these  were 
from  Albany,  namely,  the  Merchants’  Bank,  the  Com¬ 
mercial  Bank,  and  North  River  Bank;  in  New  York, 
Millers’  Bank,  Grocers’  Bank,  Commission  Company, 
Coal  Company,  Patent  Cloth  Manufacturing  Company, 
North  River  Company,  Vermont  Mining  and  Smelting 
Company,  also  one  at  Utica,  Schenectady,  Johnstown, 
Cooperstown,  Auburn,  Canandaigua,  Geneva,  Oxford. 

May  29,  The  Albany  regiment  on  the  frontier  sustained 
the  loss  of  Lieut.  Col.  Mills,  who  was  killed  in  the  un¬ 
successful  attack  of  the  British  on  Sackets  Harbor.  He 
was  mainly  instrumental  in  raising  the  regiment,  and  was 
active  and  efficient  in  the  public  service.  (See  Alb.  Ar¬ 
gus  June  15,  1813.  and  May  30,  1844.) 

June  7.*  Messrs.  Websters  &  Skinners  announced  for 
sale  The  Albany  Directory ,  containing  an  alphabetical 
list  of  the  inhabitants,  &c.,  published  by  them,  price  50cts. 
This  was  the  Directory  of  Mr.  Joseph  Fry,  the  first  in 
the  city,  which  was  reprinted  in  vol.  v  of  Annals. 

June  14.  A  writer  in  the  Gazette  urges  the  importance 
of  filling  up  the  ravines  in  the  city;  he  says;  “Unless  the 
glens  are  filled  up,  the  appearance  of  the  city  must  al¬ 
ways  be  very  inelegant  and  forbidding;  exhibiting  belts 
of  buildings  separated  by  extensive,  desolate  and  almost 
impassable  chasffis.” 

July  2.  A  very  handsome  corps  of  about  400  infantry, 
under  Col.  Cutting,  marched  from  Greenbush  on  Wed¬ 
nesday,  July  1,  and  encamped  for  the  night  on  the  hill 


101 


Notes  from  the  Newspapers. 

west  of  the  Capitol,  their  destination  being  the  western 
frontier.  On  the  morning  following  the  citizens  of  Lion 
street  made  up  a  contribution,  and  furnished  the  whole 
corps  with  a  plentiful  treat,  after  which  they  took  up 
their  line  of  march. 

July.  At  the  annual  election  of  officers  of  the  Mecha¬ 
nics’  and  Farmers’  Bank,  Isaac  Hutton  was  chosen 
president,  and  Thos.  Lennington,  Peter  Boyd,  Benj. 
Knower,  Russell  Forsyth*,  Wm.  Fowler,*  Wm.  Boyd, 
Elisha  Dorr,  Walter  Weed,  Giles  W.  Porter*,  Benj.  Van 
Benthuysen,  Chas  E.  Dudley,  and  Thos.  Herring,  Direc¬ 
tors. 

July  20.  Green  &  Co  advertise  that  they  have  just  pub¬ 
lish  a  Treatise  on  the  Disorders  of  Horned  Cattle,  &c. 

July  21.  Bread  21bs.  lOoz.  and  21bs.  14oz.  for  1  shilling. 

Sept.  17.  A  meeting  of  the  common  council  was  held 
on  the  arrival  of  the  news  of  Perry’s  victory,  when  they 
resolved  to  present  him  the  freedom  of  the  city,  and  an 
elegant  sword;  that  the  bells  of  the  city  should  be  rung 
at  12  o’clock,  and  continue  one  hour,  and  a  federal 
salute  be  fired ;  that  the  masters  and  owners  of  vessels 
should  manifest  their  joy  by  the  usual  marks  and  demon¬ 
strations  on  such  occasions,  and  that  the  military  should 
be  requested  to  turn  out  on  the  occasion.  There  was 
consequently  as  much  demonstration  of  joy  as  could  well 
be  expressed. 

Oct.  11.  Bread  21bs.  3oz.  and  21bs.  7oz.  for  Is. 

The  corner  stone  of  the  Second  Presbyterian  church 
was  laid  on  Monday,  Oct.  11,  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Neill,  and 
a  most  solemn,  impressive  and  appropriate  address  and 
prayer  delivered,  in  presence  of  the  trustees  of  said  church 
and  a  respectable  number  of  citizens.  The  site  of  this 
church  is  in  Chapel  street,  between  Maiden  Lane  and 
Pine  street;  the  edifice  to  be  68  feet  by  99,  including  the 
tower,  and  to  be  built  of  stone.  The  gentlemen  coni' 
posing  the  first  board  of  trustees  are  James  Kane,  John 
L.  Winne,  Nathaniel  Davis,*  Joseph  Russell,  and  Rode¬ 
rick  Sedgwick. 

\  Oct.  18.  Gilbert  Stewart,  Richard  Lush  and  James 
Warren  gave  notice  that  they  should  apply  to  the  legis- 

*  Surviving,  LS54. 


102 


Notes  f  rom  the  Neivspapers. 

lature  for  a  charter  to  incorporate  the  President,  Direc¬ 
tors  and  Company  of  the  Merchants’  Bank  in  the  City  of 
Albany,  with  a  capital  of  one  million  of  dollars. 

Oct.  20.  John  Bogart,  George  Webster,  E.  F.  Backus, 
Joseph  H.  Webb  and  Vinal  Luce  gave  notice  of  applica¬ 
tion  to  the  legislature  for  a  charter  to  incorporate  the 
Albany  Commercia  l  Bank,  with  a  capital  of  $  1 ,250,000. 

Oct.  28.  A  reading  room  was  kept  by  one  John  Cook, 
the  terms  of  admission  to  which  were  $6  to  the  reading 
room  alone,  and  $10  a  year  including  the  library.  Some 
thirty  years  later  the  Young  Men’s  Association  provided 
extensive  reading  rooms,  a  large  library  and  attractive 
lectures  during  the  winter,  for  the  small  sum  of  two 
dollars. 

Nov.  8.  Commodore  Perry  arrived  in  the  city  and  put 
up  at  the  Eagle  Tavern. 

Nov.  28.  A  collection*  taken  in  the  First  Presbvterian 
church  in  aid  of  the  funds  of  the  society  for  the  relief  of 
indigent  women  and  children,  amounting  to  $170‘09. 

On  the  same  evening  a  collection  was  taken  for  the 
same  object  in  the  North  Dutch  Church,  which  amounted 
to  $231-47 

Spalford  in  his  Gazetteer  says:  There  is  a  steam  boat 
running  constantly  between  Albany  and  Troy,  for  the 
accommodation  of  passengers,  performing  four  passages 
each  day.  The  public  stages  are  very  numerous  that 
centre  in  Albany,  and  the  facilities  which  these  afford  of 
traveling  by  land,  correspond  with  the  importance  of  the 
place  and  the  intercourse  with  every  part  of  the  country. 
The  line  for  Utica  runs  through  every  day;  for  New 
York  in  two  days,  for  Burlington  in  Vermont  in  two  days ; 
and  there  are  stages  for  every  part  of  the  country  with 
very  little  delay  of  conveyance. 

Speaking  of  the  “  elegant  conveniences*’  afforded  by 
steam  navagation  on  the  Hudson,  the  same  author  says 
there  were  at  this  time  three  steam  boats  plying  between 
Albany  and  New  York,  the  largest  of  which  was  170  feet 
long  and  28  wide,  which  performed  their  trips  in  the 
average  time  of  thirty  to  thirty-six  hours.  Their  periods, 
he  says,  were  very  regular  and  uniform,  and  they  had 
excellent  accommodations,  being  designed  for  passengers 


t 


Notes  from  the  Newspapers.  103 

exclusively,  passage  and  board,  $7.  “  Independent  of 

the  novelty  and  ingenuity  of  the  mode,  unknown  in 
Europe,  the  despatch,  certainty  of  time,  and  entire 
security,  with  the  perfect  convenience  and  ease  with 
which  we  pass  so  rapidly  from  place  to  place,  we  enjoy 
the  proud  reflection  that  the  invention  is  American,  and 
that  no  other  portion  of  the  world  enjoys  such  facilities 
of  intercourse.  Could  the  bold  and  intrepid  Hudson 
have  known  what  two  centuries  would  produce  on  the 
newly  discovered  waters  that  his  little  boat  first  explored, 
how  would  his  heart  have  glowed  with  great  emotions.” 

Dec.  5.  A  collection  was  taken  up  in  the  Episcopal 
church  for  the  benefit  of  the  Ladies’  society,  incorporated 
for  the  benefit  of  indigent  women  and  children,  amount¬ 
ing  to  §200.  The  total  amount  taken  in  the  three 
churches  for  this  object  was  §602*56,  besides  private 
donations  made  about  the  same  time. 

Dec.  6.  The  common  council  passed  a  resolution  offer¬ 
ing  a  reward  of  §1000  to  any  person  discovering  a  coal 
mine  within  the  distance  of  five  miles  from  the  navigable 
waters  of  the  Hudson  river,  of  a  strata  not  less  than  4  feet. 

Dec.  13.  The  common  council  regulated  the  price  of 
bread,  which,  it  will  be  seen  by  the  foregoing  journal, 
was  constantly  fluctuating  with  the  price  of  flour.  About 
this  time  flour  was  $1 1  a  barrel,  and  the  common  council, 
it  appears  by  the  manifesto  of  the  bakers,  sought  to  coerce 
the  flour  dealers  by  making  the  assize  of  bread  corres¬ 
pond  to  §9  per  barrel,  which  was  21bs.  lOoz.  for  1  shilling. 
This  threw  a  heavy  burden  upon  the  bakers,  and  they  re¬ 
solved  to  stop  business,  and  thereby  starve  the  people 
into  terms. 

Dec.  19.  The  house  erected  for  the  Methodist  Episco¬ 
pal  church  in  Division  street  was  dedicated  at  2  o’clock 
in  the  afternoon.  This  edifice  was  purchased  by  the 
Unitarian  society  and  remodeled  in  1844. 

Dec.  23.  John  Bogart,  John  Townsend, William  Marvin, 
Josiah  Sherman,  Joseph  Webb,  Henry  W.  Delavan,  E.  F. 
Backus,  Peter  P.  Dox,  Geo.  Webster,  Peter  Van  Loon, 
John  Boardman  and  others,  gave  notice  of  application  to 
the  legislature  for  an  act  of  incorporation  under  the  name 
of  the  North  River  bank,  with  a  capital  of  §1,250,000. 

[Annals,  vi.]  10 


104 


Notes  from  the  Newspapers. 

1814. 

«  <.  —  - 

Jan.  11.  The  subject  of  building  a  bridge  across  the 
Hudson  at  Albany  was  agitated  at  this  time,  and  met 
with  spirited  opposition  from  Troy,  who  represented 
that  their  town  had  for  a  long  time  struggled  against  in¬ 
conveniences  arising  from  natural  obstructions  in  the  bed 
of  the  river  between  this  place  and  Albany ;  but  now 
look  with  the  most  lively  satisfaction  at  the  result  of  their 
long  and  arduous  exertions,  which,  aided  by  the  bounty 
of  the  state,  have  effected  an  easy  and  convenient  pas¬ 
sage  for  their  vessels  in  those  waters. 

Jan.  17.  The  common  council  appropriated  $1000  for 
the  relief  of  the  suffering  inhabitants  on  the  western 
frontier.  Private  subscriptions  were  also  opened  for  the 
same  purpose.  A  collection  was  taken  up  in  the  Episco¬ 
pal  church,  which  amounted  to  $320.  At  a  subsequent 
meeting  of  the  common  council,  January  24,  a  further 
sum  of  $3000  was  appropriated  to  the  same  purpose. 
The  receipts  of  a  benefit  at  the  Theater  amounted  to 
$460. 

Feb.  6.  Annual  sermon  before  the  Bible  society.  The 
collection  on  the  occasion  was  $251,  and  $20  by  an  un¬ 
known  hand  was  added  subsequently. 

March  6.  A  charity  sermon  was  preached  in  the  North 
Dutch  church  by  Dr.  Nott  and  a  collection  taken  up  for 
the  benefit  of  the  Humane  society,  amounting  to  $474. 

March  11.  Mr.  Bleecker,  from  the  committee  of  the 
house  of  assembly  on  the  bridge  across  the  Hudson  at 
Albany,  leported  adversely  to  the  project;  but  the  house 
disagreed  with  the  committee  in  their  report,  and  ordered 
that  the  petitioners  have  leave  to  introduce  a  bill  to  in¬ 
corporate  the  Hudson  River  Bridge  company ;  which  was 
read  twice  and  committed. 

May  9.  The  new  steam  boat  Fulton  made  her  first 
departure  from  the  landing  at  Albany.  She  was  adver¬ 
tised  to  take  a  limited  number  of  passengers,  no  more 
than  could  be  comfortably  accommodated,  at  $10  each. 
She  took  60  passengers,  and  made  but  one  trip  and  re¬ 
turn  a  week.  She  was  built  to  ply  between  New  York 
and  New  Haven,  but  the  presence  of  British  cruisers 


Notes  from  the  Newspapers.  105 

rendered  the  navigation  of  the  sound  unsafe.  She  was 
commanded  by  Captain  Bunker. 

May  31.  With  pleasure  we  inform  the  public  that 
arrangements  have  been  made  to  carry  the  mail  from 
Albany  to  Brattleboro  twice  a  wTeek,  by  a  regular  line  of 
stages,  to  start  from  Brattleboro  in  the  morning  and  ar¬ 
rive  at  Albany  the  same  day.  The  gentleman  engaged 
in  this  enterprise,  Mr.  Hicks,  will  allow  no  accident  to 
happen  by  any  inattention  of  his.  We  hope  the  pro¬ 
prietors  of  the  Green  Mountain  Turnpike  will  spare  no 
pains  to  keep  the  roads  in  repair,  by  which  the  travel 
from  Boston  to  Albany  can  be  performed  with  greater 
safety  than  by  any  other  route. 

Sept.  3.  A  meeting  of  the  citizens  was  held  at  the  Cap¬ 
itol,  which  recommended  the  suspension  of  specie  pay¬ 
ments  by  the  banks,  in  consequence  of  a  similar  step  by 
the  banks  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia. 

Troy.  The  number  of  inhabitants  in  Troy  in  1810, 
was  3,894,  in  1814,  4,836 — increase  in  4  years,  945. 

Geo.  W.  Mancius  w7as  removed  from  the  post  office 
and  Peter  P.  Dox  appointed  in  his  stead.  The  former  had 
retained  the  office  a  long  time. 


1815. 


The  census  of  the 

county  of  Albany  was  as  follows: 

Towns. 

1510. 

1814.  Gain. 

Loss. 

Watervliet 

2365 

2564  199 

Colon  ie 

1406 

1657  251 

City  of  Albany 

9356 

10083  727 

Bethlehem 

4430 

4325 

102 

Coeymans 

3574 

3272 

302 

Rensselaerville 

5928 

5333 

595 

Bern 

5134 

4447 

689 

Guilderland 

2466 

2264 

202 

34661 

33945  1177 

1890 

The  number  of  free  white 

males,  4,860; 

do.  females 

5,063;  slaves,  100;  total  10,023. 

March  16.  A  law  passed  the  legislature  for  dividin 
the  towns  of  Rensselaerville  and  Coeymans,  and  formin 
from  them  the  tow7n  of  Westerlo. 


be  bD 


106 


Notes  from  the  Newspapers. 


The  town  of  Colonie  was  annexed  to  the  city  of  Albany 
by  an  act  of  the  legislature,  forming  the  fifth  ward. 

Illumination  of  the  city  on  occasion  of  the  restoration 
of  peace. 

Collections  were  taken  up  about  this  time  in  the  dif¬ 
ferent  churches  for  the  benefit  of  the  Society  for  the  Relief 
of  Indigent  Women  and  Children,  which  resulted  as  fol¬ 


lows: 

In  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church . $230*00 

Episcopal  Church . 158*00 

Presbyterian  Church .  90*22 

Rev.  Mr.  McDonald’s  Church .  59*28 

Baptist  Church .  8*51 

Catholic  Church . 25*19 


April  3.  Bread  21bs.  14  oz.  for  Is. 

May  8.  do.  2  12  “ 

May  1.  Notice. — Win.  McHarg  having  taken  into  part¬ 
nership  Rufus  H.  King,  the  business  in  future  will  be 
conducted  under  the  firm  of  McHarg  &  King,  No.  51  South 
Market  (late  Court)  street. 

May.  The  clergymen  of  the  different  churches  in  the 
city  at  this  time  were  as  follows: 


John  M.  Bradford, 
John  De  Witt, 
William  Neill, 

John  Me  Donald, 
Timothy  Clowes, 
Isaac  Webb, 

John  McJimsey, 
Fiederick  G.  Mayer 


1st  R.  P.  Dutch. 

2d  “  “ 

1  st  Presbyterian. 

2d  “ 

St.  Peter’s. 

1st  Particular  Baptist 
Associate  Reformed. 
Lutheran. 

Methodist. 

Catholic. 


Du  ision  of  the  Dutch  Church. — There  were  two  edi¬ 
fices  belonging  to  the  Reformed  Protestant  Dutch  con¬ 
gregation,  which  still  remained  united  in  one  society, 
holding  property  in  common,  and  usually  designated  as 
the  North  Dutch  Church  and  the  South  Dutch  Church. 
They  were  under  the  pastoral  charge  of  the  Rev.  John 
M.  Bradford  and  John  De  Witt.  At  this  time  there  was 
some  difference  of  feeling  existing  among  the  people,  which 
led  to  a  separation  of  interests,  and  a  division  of  property. 
By  an  arrangement  the  North  Church  retained  the  ancient 


107 


Notes  from  the  Newspapers. 


title,  with  Dr.  Bradford  as  pastor,  and  the  South  Church 
assumed  the  title  of  the  Second  Reformed  Protestant 
Dutch  Church  and  retained  Dr.  De  Witt.  The  Great 
Consistory  (which  consisted  of  the  existing  members  and 
surviving  exmembers)  was  composed  of  the  following 
persons  at  this  time : 


Elders.  -  Died. 


Elders.  Died. 


Isaac  Bogart,  Sept.  27,  ISIS 

Harm’s  A.  Wendell,  July  16,  1819 

Elbert  Willett,  Feb.  1,  1828 

William  Staats,  May,  1825 

Simeon  De  Witt,  Dec.  3,  1834 

Jacob  Yan  Loon, 

Henry  I.  Bogart,  Jan  1821 
John  H.  Wendell,  July  10,  1832 
Sanders  Lansing,  Sept.  19,  1850 
Henry  R.  Lansing,  Aug.  10,  1819 


Casparus  Pruyn 

Ab’m  Ten  Eyck,  Oct.,  1824 

Deacons. 

Christian  Miller,  Dec.  1844 
Jas.  La  Grange,  Feb.  16.  1827 
David  Pruyn.  Jan.  1843 
John  I.  Ostrander. 

Jacob  I.  Lansing,  June  4,  1830 
Peter  W.  Hilton. 


June.  The  corporation  appropriated  fifty  acres  of 
valuable  land,  in  a  very  healthy  and  salubrious  situation, 
on  the  south  bounds  of  the  city,  half  a  mile  west  of  the 
river,  and  near  the  present  poor  house  establishment, 
for  the  new  alms  house,  which  is  contemplated,  and  for 
gardens,  &c.,  to  be  connected  with  the  institution. 

At  this  time  the  Academy  was  being,  built,  for  the  en¬ 
dowment  of  which  grants  had  been  made;  also,  for  the 
erection  of  a  school-house  for  poor  children,  on  the  plan 
of  Lancaster.  The  appropriations  of  the  city  to  these 
purposes,  exclusive  of  the  sites,  were  not  less  than  a 
hundred  or  a  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars. 

The  Academy  is  represented  as  situated  on  the  north¬ 
west  corner  of  the  public  square,  on  a  line  with  the  Cap¬ 
itol.  The  main  building  is  80  feet  long  by  70,  and  the 
wings  30  feet  by  45.  The  building  to  be  three  stories 
high. 

The  Lancaster  school-house  is  to  be  on  a  scale  suffi¬ 


ciently  large  for  the  reception  of  500  children  in  one 
room.  The  building  to  be  two  stories,  exclusive  of  the 
basement  story.  Its  site  is  in  Eagle  street,  at  its  inter¬ 
section  with  Lancaster  street,  formerly  Tiger  street — a 
very  happy  and  appropriate  change  in  the  name,  and  we 
trust  ominous  of  great  good  to  the  rising  generation. 

The  corner-stone  of  the  Academy  was  laid  on  Satur- 


108  Notes  from  the  Newspapers. 

day  afternoon,  at  four  o’clock,  July  29,  by  Philip  S.  Van 
Rensselaer. 

To  expand  the  circle  of  social  intercourse  and  human 
happiness,  by  the  mild  influence  of  the  arts  and  sciences, 
which  so  eminently  embellish  and  invigorate  the  intellec¬ 
tual  faculties  of  man,  our  corporation  have  munificently 
contributed,  by  laying  the  corner-stone  of  the  Albany 
Academy  on  Saturday  last,  with  an  adequate  appropria¬ 
tion  to  complete  it. 

That  this  ancient  city  should  be  thus  late  in  the  estab¬ 
lishment  of  a  permanent  seminary  for  the  higher  grades 
of  education,  might  excite  some  surprise,  if  the  genius  of 
the  government  under  which  it  was  founded,  the  succes¬ 
sive  revolutions  it  experienced  during  its  colonial  depend¬ 
ence,  the  change  of  language  and  laws  imposed  by  its 
cession  to  the  English,  and  the  superior  attractions  of  its 
younger  sister  on  the  sea-board,  were  either  unknown 
or  disregarded. 

Until  the  New-England  colonists,  who,  laboring  under 
common  apprehensions,  and  actuated  by  a  common  im¬ 
pulse,  transported  their  families  and  religious  institu¬ 
tions,  matured  by  a  strict  discipline,  under  the  fostering 
care  of  pious  and  intelligent  men,  whose  prominent  ob¬ 
ject  was  to  secure  for  themselves  and  their  posterity  a 
permanent  asylum  from  religious  intolerance,  this  city 
was  first  peopled  by  emigrants  from  most  of  the  pro¬ 
vinces  of  the  United  Netherlands.  Induced  to  abandon 
their  native  country  from  the  greatest  variety  of  motives 
by  which  freemen,  accustomed  to  roam  at  will  in  quest 
of  wealth,  comfort  or  enjoyment,  through  every  acces¬ 
sible  region  of  the  globe,  could  be  influenced — unallied 
by  the  ties  or  hopes  of  a  common  creed — under  the  aus- 
pices  of  a  great  and  opulent  mercantile  company,  of  lim¬ 
ited  duration,  but  whose  charter  limits  comprised  a  vast 
extent  of  countries,  abounding  with  the  richest  produc¬ 
tions,  incomparably  more  estimable,  in  a  commercial 
point  of  view,  than  this,  and  whose  pursuits,  connected 
with  immediate  emolument,  rendered  remote  objects 
either  of  perfect  indifference  or  of  minor  importance.. 

As  with  the  language,  laws  and  manners  of  the  Eng¬ 
lish,  the  Dutch  were  wholly  unacquainted,  the  old  and 


Notes  from  the  Neivspapers .  109 

new  inhabitants,  repelled  by  mutual  dislike,  had  little  in¬ 
tercourse  with  each  other,  the  latter  gradually  neglected 
their  common  schools.  To  substitute  others,  required  a 
long  series  of  years,  protracted  by  national  feelings,  an¬ 
tipathies  and  prejudices,  which  were  slowly  but  progres¬ 
sively  subsiding,  when  the  Revolution,  like  an  irresistible 
torrent,  leveled  every  barrier  of  separation,  by  present¬ 
ing  the  most  fascinating  point  of  union  within  the  range 
of  human  propensities— a  contest  for  equal  rights,  which 
had  been  highly  cherished,  gallantly  defended,  and  suc¬ 
cessfully  asserted  by  both  nations ;  and  while  the  recol¬ 
lections  which  so  enthusiastically  identify  the  deeds  of 
national  ancestors  with  the  feelings  and  passions  of  their 
posterity  were  forcibly  associated  with  the  objects  of  the 
strife,  the  banners  of  freedom  waved  over  their  united 
bands — elevated  their  minds  above  the  petty  distinctions 
which  divided  brethren  into  discordant  sections- — taught 
them  truly  to  estimate  each  other’s  worth,  and  inspired 
those  liberal  and  manly  sentiments  which  have  so  salu¬ 
tary  a  tendency  to  absorb  private  into  public  interests. 
The  establishment  of  an  academy,  the  effect  of  a  united 
effort,  is  one  of  the  many  happy  fruits  of  this  concord. 

While  in  every  revolving  year  some  traces  of  distinct 
European  origin  is  merged  in  the  national  stream,  the 
elevating  connection  is  daily  becoming  more  impressive, 
that  the  proudest  national  boast  of  the  natives  of  this 
highly  distinguished  country  is,  that  they  have  the  honor 
to  be  Americans. 

The  copper-plate  deposited  at  the  laying  of  the  corner¬ 
stone  had  the  following  inscription  : 

Erected  for  an  Academy,  anno  1815, 

By  the  corporation  of  the  city  of  Albany. 

Philip  S.  Van  Rensselaer,  Mayor. 

John  Van  Ness  Yates,  Recorder. 

Building  Committee — Philip  S.  Van  Rensselaer,  John  BrinckerhofF, 
Chauncey  Humphrey,  James  Warren,  and  Killian  K.  Van  Rensselaer. 

Seth  Geer,  Architect. 

H.  W.  Snyder,  Sculpt. 

June  16.  The  well-known  partnership  of  James  and 
Archibald  Kane  was  dissolved,  the  former  assuming  the 
settlement  of  the  business. 

Some  citizens  of  Albany,  among  whom  were  Peter  P. 


110 


Notes  from  the  Newspapers. 

Dox  and  Philip  S.  Parker,  sent  Cobbett  a  suit  of  clothes, 
of  American  manufacture  entire,  as  a  compliment  for  the 
“  able,  independent  and  masterly  manner”  in  which  he 
had  conducted  the  Register .  A  great  portion  of  his  paper 
of  July  22  is  taken  up  with  his  reply  to  admirers  in  Al¬ 
bany,  and  closes  with  a  request  that  they  will  send  him 
half  a  dozen  ears  of  the  dwarf  kind  of  Indian  corn. 

Aug.  2.  Died,  Mr.  James  Ladd,  keeper  of  the  Albany 
Coffee  House,  Green  street. 

Aug.  11.  A  movement  was  made  by  the  owners  of 
property  in  Pearl  street  to  have  that  street  opened 
through  the  fifth  ward  to  the  northern  bounds  of  the 
city.  A  meeting  of  the  citizens  was  called,  and  a  com¬ 
mittee  appointed  to  petition  the  corporation,  and  attend 
to  the  business  of  the  project. 

The  line  of  stages  from  Albany  to  Manlius,  via  Cherry 
Valley,  is  again  extended  to  Canandaigua,  and  performs 
the  whole  distance,  200  miles,  in  two  days,  arriving  at 
Canandaigua  three  times  a  week.  The  old  mail  line,  via 
Utica,  will  perform  the  route  from  Albany  to  Geneva  in 
two  days.  The  distance  from  Albany  to  Geneva  by  the 
way  of  Utica  is  about  the  same  as  to  Canandaigua  by 
Cherry  Valley. 

Sept.  3.  The  new  Presbyterian  Church  in  Chapel  street 
was  dedicated  on  Sunday,  when  a  very  excellent  and 
appropriate  discourse  was  delivered,  by  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Neill,  to  the  most  numerous  concourse  of  people  ever 
before  assembled  in  this  city  on  a  similar  occasion.  On 
Tuesday,  September  5th,  the  pews  on  the  first  floor  were 
put  up  for  sale,  and  about  ninety  struck  off,  producing  a 
sum  exceeding  $35,000,  and  leaving  upwards  of  forty 
unsold. 

The  Academy  was  announced  to  open  on  the  second 
Monday  in  September,  under  Benj.  Allen,  LL.D.,  of 
Union  College,  and  Messrs.  Neill,  Beck  and  Sedgwick 
were  the  committee  to  receive  applications  for  admis¬ 
sion. 

J.  Demarest  established  a  twice-a-day  line  of  stages 
between  Waterford  and  Albany,  passing  through  Lan* 
singburgh  and  Troy.  Fare  from  Waterford  was  62.^  cts.; 
from  Lansingburgh,  50;  and  from  Troy,  37^  cts. 


Notes  from  the  Newspapers .  Ill 

Sept.  25.  On  the  25th  of  September,  the  first  number 
of  the  Albany  Daily  Advertiser  made  its  appearance, 
printed  by  John  W.  Walker,  for  Theodore  Dwight,  at 
95  State  street. 

Oct.  11.  David  E.  Gregory  and  Peter  Bain  having 
connected  themselves  in  business,  under  the  firm  of 
Gregory  &  Bain,  are  now  opening,  and  offer  for  sale,  at 
the  store  lately  occupied  by  Messrs.  Robert  Hyslop  &  Co., 
corner  of  Market  street  and  Mark  lane  [now  the  north¬ 
west  corner  of  the  Exchange  building],  a  large  and 
general  assortment  of  china,  glass  and  earthen  ware,  on 
liberal  terms  for  cash  or  approved  credit. 

Important  Discovery:  A  Coal  Mine . — It  gives  us  the 
greatest  pleasure,  to  learn,  that  a  valuable  coal  mine  has 
been  discovered  near  the  Harrowgate  springs,  at  Green- 
bush,  opposite  the  city,  and  about  one  fourth  of  a  mile 
from  the  Hudson  river.  Within  forty  feet  of  the  sur¬ 
face  of  the  earth,  a  stratum  of  coal,  of  six  feet  in  depth, 
has  been  found,  and  appearances  warrant  the  belief  that 
the  mine  is  large  and  extensive.  The  coal  is  of  an 
excellent  quality,  and  a  shaft  is  now  sinking,  in  order 
to  commence  working  the  mine. — Albany  Gazette . 

Oct.  23.  Notice  was  given  that  the  poor  debtors,  con¬ 
fined  in  prison  in  this  city,  are  in  a  suffering  condition, 
for  want  of  the  necessaries  of  life.  The  public  charity, 
and  that  of  individuals,  if  dispensed  in  their  favor, 
would  be  received  with  gratitude  and  thanks. 

Oct.  27.  A  meeting  of  the  citizens  of  Albany  was 
held,  at  the  Tontine  Coffee  House,  to  take  into  con¬ 
sideration  the  most  effectual  means  for  the  abolition  of 
the  great  and  increasing  number  of  individual  and  com¬ 
pany  bills,  which  were  the  general  medium  of  circula¬ 
tion,  and  had  become  extremely  vexatious. 

November.  An  effort  was  made  about  this  time  to 
discover  a  vein  of  coal,  and  several  individuals  perse¬ 
vered  in  sinking  a  shaft  for  that  purpose,  under  the  im¬ 
pression  that  former  attempts  hereabout  had  failed  from 
too  slight  and  superficial  examinations. 

Died,  on  Saturday,  November  4th,  Goldsbrow  Banyar, 
aged  91.  He  was  born  in  England,  but  came  to  this 
country  in  early  life,  where  he  ever  after  resided.  For 


112  Notes  from  the  Newspapers, 

many  years  prior  to  the  Revolution,  he  was  deputy-sec¬ 
retary  of  the  province,  and  as  the  secretary  was  absent, 
the  important  and  laborious  duties  of  that  office  were  per¬ 
formed  by  Mr.  Banyar  in  a  manner  highly  honorable  to 
his  talents  and  integrity,  and  very  advantageous  to  the 
province.  Through  his  very  long  life  he  was  considered 
a  man  of  strict  and  unimpeachable  integrity,  punctual 
and  faithful  in  the  discharge  of  his  public  duties,  and 
virtuous  and  amiable  in  the  private  relations  of  life — 
respected  by  his  numerous  acquaintance,  and  affection¬ 
ately  esteemed  and  beloved  by  his  family  and  friends. 
His  funeral  took  place  on  Monday  afternoon,  at  St. 
Peter’s,  when  a  sermon  was  preached  by  Mr.  Clowes. 

Nov.  17.  Died,  on  Friday  morning,  Nov.  17,  very  sud¬ 
denly,  Mr.  Balthazar  Lydius,  in  the  78th  year  of  his  age. 
He  was  a  very  eccentric  character,  and  the  last  male 
descendant  of  one  of  the  most  ancient  and  respectable 
Dutch  families  of  the  city. 

Nov.  21.  Died,  on  Tuesday  evening,  Nov.  21,  Mr. 
Peter  P.  Dox,  postmaster  of  this  city,  and  late  sheriff  of 
the  city  and  county  of  Albany.  His  funeral  was  attended 
with  masonic  honors  and  a  numerous  concourse  of  friends 
and  citizens, 

The  Christmas  and  New- Year  holidays  seem  to  have 
been  celebrated  with  considerable  uproariousness  about 
this  time,  since  the  common  council  found  it  necessary 
to  pass  a  resolution  to  double  the  watch  on  the  nights  of 
the  24th,  25th,  26th,  and  3 1st  December,  and  the  1st  and 
2d  January;  and  to  enforce  the  prohibition  against  the 
firing  of  guns,  pistols,  & c.,  on  the  days  and  nights  above 
mentioned. 

1816. 

Specie  at  Albany  is  as  low  as  six  per  cent,  premium, 
and  we  have  understood  that  some  of  our  brokers  have 
declined  purchasing  at  that  price. 

Gerrit  L.  Dox  was  appointed  postmaster,  in  the  place 
of  his  brother,  Peter  P.  Dox,  deceased. 

The  thermometer  stood  at  IB  and  14  degrees  below 
zero  on  Sunday  and  Tuesday  mornings,  Jan.  14  and  16. 

At  the  January  session,  the  following  were  admitted 


Notes  from  the  Newspapers,  113 

solicitors  in  chancery:  Peter  Gansevoort,  John  Crary, 
Chas.  H.  Ruggles,  John  P.  Cushman. 

Jan.  18.  In  consequence  of  the  great  change  in  the 
weather,  the  ice  in  the  Hudson  broke  up  between  Albany 
and  Troy,  and  a  sloop,  laden  with  wheat  and  provisions, 
was  brought  down  with  the  ice  to  this  city,  where  it  sunk. 

Feb.  2.  The  expenses  of  the  Lancaster  School  for  the 
past  year  were  as  follows : 

Salary  of  the  teacher . $700*00 

Rent  of  school-room  (the  school-house  was  not 

done) .  82*50 

For  fitting  up  Pettibone  stoves  and  ventilating  .  91*00 

Incidental  expenses . - .  331*03 


$1,204*53 

W.  A.  Tweed  Dale  was  preceptor. 

The  income  of  the  society  arose  from  the  following 
sources : 

Allowance  by  the  corporation  out  of  the  excise 


receipts . $500  00 

School  fund  appropriation .  487*66 

Tuition  fees  from  the  scholars .  400*00 


$1,387*66 

The  number  of  scholars  instructed  during  the  year  was 
400,  of  which  200  were  new  scholars;  that  is,  who  had 
not  previously  attended  the  school. 

Feb.  7.  A  meeting  was  held  at  the  Tontine  Coffee 
House,  to  urge  the  subject  of  the  canal  upon  the  atten¬ 
tion  of  the  people  and  the  legislature.  The  call  was 
signed  by  Archibald  McIntyre,  James  Kane,  John  Wood- 
worth,  Wm.  James,  Barent  Bleecker,  Renssalaer  West- 
erlo,  John  Van  Schaick,  Chas.  E.  Dudley,  Dudley  Walsh, 
H.  Bleecker.  The  importance  of  the  measure  was 
strongly  urged  upon  the  public,  and  committees  appointed 
to  each  ward,  for  the  purpose  of  procuring  signatures  to 
a  memorial  to  the  legislature. 

Feb.  25.  A  charity  sermon  was  preached  in  the  North 
Dutch  Church,  by  Rev.  Dr.  Bradford,  which  produced, 
for  the  benefit  of  the  Society  for  the  Relief  of  Indigent 
Women  and  Children,  the  sum  of  $218*68. 


114 


Notes  from  the  Newspapers. 

March  1.  The  prices  for  freight  established  by  the 
owners  of  sloops  on  the  river  was  published  on  the  1st 
of  March  ;  among  which  were  the  following  items  : 
Wheat  and  other  grain,  5d.  per  bushel;  flour,  25  cts.  per 
barrel;  liquors,  $1*25  per  pipe;  iron,  12J  cts.  per  hund¬ 
red  weight;  paper,  6d.  per  ream;  tea,  per  chest,  $1*25; 
dry  goods,  6s.  to  8s.  per  trunk;  sugar  and  tobacco,  12 J 
cts.  per  hundred  pounds. 

March  3.  Died,  on  Sunday  morning,  Maus  R.  Van 
Vranken,  an  active  and  patriotic  officer,  for  many  years 
on  the  civil  list  of  the  county  of  Albany. 

March  18.  The  cold  this  morning,  as  late  as  half-past 
six,  was  4°  below  zero.  This  is  unusual  and  extraor¬ 
dinary  severity  for  the  season.  There  have  4>een  only 
three  or  four  colder  mornings  the  past  winter.  The  ice 
in  the  Hudson  against  the  upper  part  of  the  city  is 
heaped  together  in  great  masses,  and  will  probably  bind 
the  river  till  April. 

March  18.  A  meeting  of  the  citizens  was  held  at  the 
Capitol,  for  the  purpose  of  organizing  a  society  for  the 
purpose  of  establishing  an  African  Sunday  school.  The 
prominent  actors  were  Isaac  Hutton,  Timothy  Clowes, 
Theodore  Sedgwick,  Geo.  Upfold,  j r. ,  John  Stearns,  &c., 
who  were  among  all  the  popular  benevolent  movements 
of  the  day. 

March  20.  The  manager  of  the  Theatre  gave  a  benefit 
to  William  B.  Winne,  front  door-keeper,  and  the  citizens 
were  appealed  to  in  his  behalf,  in  consideration  of  his 
long  and  meritorious  services,  having  punctually  fulfilled 
the  duties  of  his  station,  through  wind  and  rain,  fair 
weather  and  foul.  Adrian  and  Orilta  and  the  Adopted 
Child  were  played. 

March  21.  The  managers  of  the  Society  for  the  Relief 
of  Indigent  Women  and  Children  reported  that  the  ex¬ 
penses  for  the  last  year  were:  For  the  relief  of  79 
women  and  175  children,  $484*26;  expenses  attending 
clothing  and  education  of  30  scholars,  including  teacher’s 
salary,  fuel,  and  repairs  of  school-house,  $446*45;  total, 
$930*71. 

March  24.  A  sabbath  evening  school  was  established 
at  Mr.  Young’s  school-room,  in  Washington  street,  and 


JSotes  from  the  Newspapers.  115 

appears  to  have  been  countenanced  by  the  Moral  Society. 
It  was  attended  by  150  children  and  50  adults. 

April  9.  The  bill  “  erecting  the  village  of  Troy  into  a 
city”  passed  the  legislature.  Albert  Paulding  was 
elected  the  first  mayor,  and  William  L.  Messey,  re¬ 
corder. 

April  10.  The  legislature  provided  by  law  for  a  school 
in  Albany  for  colored  people. 

April  28.  A  most  destructive  fire  broke  out  in  the 
commons  of  this  city  on  Sunday  last  [April  28],  which 
extended  its  ravages  to  Guilderland  and  Watervliet,  and 
was  not  wholly  extinguished  at  the  end  of  four  days.  It 
has,  in  its  extensive  progress,  done  incalculable  damage 
to  the  young  growing  wood  and  timber,  and  consumed 
many  thousand  loads  of  fire  wood  and  valuable  timber 
which  w~as  cut  down.  We  have  heard  of  no  buildings 
being  destroyed,  but  all  the  fences  of  the  enclosed  fields 
within  its  range  are  entirely  swept  away. 

Colonel  Rensselaer  Westerlo  was  elected  a  representa¬ 
tive  in  congress  for  the  ninth  congressional  district,  by 
a  majority  exceeding  800.  Col.  Elisha  Jenkins  was  the 
democratic  candidate  opposed  to  him. 

Among  the  steam  boats  building  at  this  time  for  the 
various  cities  of  the  Union,  at  Brown  &  Eckford’s 
ship-yard  in  New  York,  mentioned  by  a  writer  who  had 
been  to  view  them,  was  “  a  new  and  very  large  and  pow¬ 
erful  steam  boat,  of  146  feet  keel,  presumed  to  be  the 
largest  ever  built,  to  run  between  New  York  and  Albany, 
and  designed  to  perform  the  route  by  the  light  of  a  single 
day.” 

May  2.  The  election  this  year  resulted,  as  usual,  in 
the  triumph  of  the  federal  ticket.  Rufus  King  received 
1770  votes  for  governor,  and  Daniel  D.  Tompkins  980.. 
George  Tibbits,  of  Troy,  received  also  1770  votes  for 
lieut.  governor,  and  Tayler  960.  Rensselaer  Westerlo' 
ran  for  congress,  and  M.  Lovett  was  also  supported  by 
the  federalists.  The  democratic  candidate  was  Mr.  Jen¬ 
kins.  The  following  table  will  show  the  vote  of  the- 
towns,  and  the  relative  strength  of  the  parties.  The 
election  commenced  on  Tuesday,  April  1,  and  continued 

[Annals,  vi.]  11 


116  Notes  from  the  Newspapers • 

three  days,  as  was  the  custom  for  about  twenty-fire 
years  after: 


Towns.  King.  Tompkins.  Tibbits.  Tayler.  Westerlo.  Jenkins.  Lovett. 

Albany, .  472  293  468  275  579  508  271 

Bern, .  253  123  356  122  426  159  0 

Bethlehem, .  295  104  297  104  351  110  1 

Coeymans, .  69  115  69  .  115  95  159  2 

Guilderland,  . . . .  140  56  141  54  181  81  0 

Rensselaerville,  .  124  147  126  147  170  203  0 

Watervliet, .  152  44  143  47  190  54  1 

Westerlo, . .  165  98  170  96  188  149  2 


1770  980  1770  960  2180  1418  277 

May  14.  The  roofs  of  the  houses  and  the  neighboring 
hills  were  covered  with  snow,  and  the  country  in  many 
places  had  the  appearance  of  winter,  the  hills  being  as 
white  as  in  the  month  of  January. 

May  24.  Died,  on  Friday,  May  24,  Dudley  Walsh,  late 
president  of  the  Bank  of  Albany,  aged  55.  He  was  dis¬ 
tinguished,  says  his  obituary  notice  in  the  Daily  Adver¬ 
tiser ,  for  the  temperance  and  regularity  of  his  life.  He 
was  the  builder  of  his  own  fortune  and  character;  having 
come  to  this  country  from  a  foreign  land,  and  begun  his 
career  unaided  and  alone;  and  his  industry,  intelligence 
and  integrity  placed  him  at  the  head  of  the  commercial 
interest.  “As  a  Christian,  a  citizen  and  a  merchant,  he 
had  no  superior  here.” 

July  1.  Dr.  Wm.  Bay  and  others  having  presented  the 
common  council,  on  the  24th. June,  a  memorial  on  the 
subject  of  a  better  and  more  economical  mode  of  afford¬ 
ing  relief  to  the  poor  of  the  city,  that  body  took  the 
matter  in  consideration,  and  divided  the  poor  into  the 
districts,  giving  to  each  a  physician,  as  follows:  1st, 
Wm.  Bay;  2d,  Jas.  Low;  3d,  Chas.  D.  Townsend;  4th, 
Peter  Wendell;  5th  (Alms  House),  Platt  Williams. 
They  were  to  receive  $200  each,  which  was  considered 
to  be  a  very  great  saving  in  the  medical  expense  of  the 
city,  and  a  most  promising  means  of  reducing  the  ex¬ 
pense  for  the  support  of  the  poor  families,  in  a  more 
speedy  manner  than  could  by  the  old  arrangement  be 
done. 


117 


Notes  from  the  Newspapers. 

July  4.  This  day  was  celebrated  much  in  the  usual 
way.  Lt.  J.  0.  Cole  read  the  Dec.  Independence,  and 
the  oration  was  pronounced  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  De  Witt. 

July  18.  Notice  was  given  that  books  of  subscription 
to  the  stock  of  the  Erie  and  Champlain  canals  were  open 
at  various  points  in  the  state,  and  at  Albany  by  Philip 
S.  Van  Rensselaer,  John  Lansing,  jr.,  John  Woodworth, 
Harmanus  Bleecker  and  Wm.  James. 

The  council  of  appointment,  being  democrats,  removed 
Philip  S.  Van  Rensselaer,  who  had  been  the  popular 
mayor  of  the  city  during  the  last  17  years.  At  a  meet¬ 
ing  of  the  common  council,  on  the  29th  July,  a  com¬ 
mittee,  consisting  of  Messrs.  McKown,  Cooper  and  Van 
Vechten,  was  appointed  to  prepare  an  address  to  the 
mayor,  expressive  of  their  disapprobation  of  the  act. 

At  this  term  of  the  supreme  court,  held  at  the  Capi¬ 
tol,  James  Dexter,  Welcome  Esleeck  and  John  E.  Lovett 
were  admitted  as  attorneys. 

This  season  was  remarkable  for  many  eccentricities  of 
the  weather.  There  was  a  great  snow  storm  in  June, 
which  extended  from  Massachusetts  to  Canada,  when 
everything  over  a  large  tract  of  country  had  the  appear¬ 
ance  of  winter.  The  weather  was  extremely  cold  and 
dry,  and  frost  was  noticed  in  every  month  of  the  year 
within  30  miles  of  this  city — a  calamity  never  known 
before. 

Sept.  1.  An  experiment  was  made  by  Capt.  Roorback, 
of  the  steam  boat  Car  of  Neptune,  of  burning  coal  instead 
of  wood  on  his  boat ;  the  great  consumption  of  wood  by 
the  boats  having  already  increased  its  price  in  New  York 
and  Albany.  The  want  of  judgment  and  experience  in 
this  first  use  of  coal  led  to  much  detention  on  the  route, 
and  she  performed  the  trip  in  35  hours,  which  was  con¬ 
sidered  quite  satisfactory,  and  a  successful  experiment. 

Sept.  9.  Gen.  Henry  K.  Van  Rensselaer  died,  aged  73. 

Sept.  24.  The  election  of  charter  officers  resulted  in 
the  success  of  the  federalists,  the  board  standing  the 
same  as  the  previous  year — 12  feds  ,  8  demos.  In  the 
third  ward  there  was  no  opposition  to  the  federal  ticket. 

The  Albany  Reading  Room  and  Library  was  com- 


118  Notes  from  the  Newspapers . 

menced  in  1809  by  John  Cook,  with  82  subscribers,  James 
Kane  bestowing  the  rent  of  the  room  gratuitously.  In 
September,  1816,  he  appealed  to  the  public  for  an  in¬ 
crease  of  patronage,  or  he  must  abandon  it.  He  had 
then  131  subscribers.  * 

Sept.  26.  On  Thursday,  Sept.  26,  the  corner  stone  of 
the  Lutheran  Church  at  the  corner  of  Lodge  and  Pine 
streets,  was  laid  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Mayer,  assisted  by 
Philip  Hooker,  architect. 

Oct.  7.  John  Stilwell,  of  the  late  firm  of  Stilwell  & 
Wendell,  takes  the  liberty  to  inform  his  friends  that  he 
continues  the  auction  and  commission  business,  and  keeps 
on  hand  a  constant  supply  of  cash  to  advance  on  goods 
left  to  be  sold. 

India  Goods  —  The  consummation  of  peace  and  the 
restoration  of  commerce  between  the  United  States  and 
Great  Britain  was  attended  with  the  introduction  of  a 
new  series  of  foreign  luxuries,  the  names  alone  of  which 
are  quite  formidable.  Among  the  list  of  goods  arrived 
at  this  time  from  Calcutta,  the  following  articles  must 
have  produced  a  consternation  among  the  ladies,  by  the 
singularity  of  their  names: 

Beerboon  and  Company  Gurrahs. 

Jalalpore,  Cassimebad,  Tonida,  Audy,  Azinghur  and 
Alliabad  Saunas. 

Alliabad  and  Bushuck  Emerties. 

Chadpore,  Cossamabad  and  Tandah  Cossas. 

Patka,  Callepatty,  Chittabully,  Kyrabad  Baftas. 

Seercal,  Audy  and  Gurrah  Baftas. 

Checks,  Patna  and  Lucknor  Chintz  Carpets,  Seer¬ 
suckers,  Baglipore  Checks,  Castors,  Palenpores,  Bunah 
Cloths,  Pisacky  Cloths,  Bandannoes,  Choppas,  &c. 

Nov.  4.  On  Monday,  Nov.  4,  the  mercury  stood  at  70 
degs.  F.  between  three  and  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon 
in  the  shade.  It  stood  the  same  on  the  19th. 

Nov.  5.  The  legislature  convened  in  the  city.  The 
governor’s  (D.  D.  Tompkins)  message  occupied  one 
column  of  the  Albany  Daily  Advertiser,  and  was  pub¬ 
lished  on  the  day  following.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Bradford, 


Notes  from  the  Newspapers .  119 

Rev.  Mr.  De  Witt,  Rev.  Mr.  Chester,  and  Rev.  Mr* 
McDonald  were  appointed  chaplains. 

Pleasure  Carriages  and  Sleighs. — James  Goold  &  Co. 
make  and  keep  constantly  on  hand,  for  sale  (at  the  sign 
of  the  gilded  coach,  lower  end  of  Division  street,  a  few 
rods  north  of  the  Eagle  Tavern),  all  kinds  of  pleasure 
carriages  and  sleighs,  and  sell  them  unusually  low. 
Gentlemen  are  respectfully  invited  to  call  and  see. 

Dec.  1.  The  steam  boat  Car  of  Neptune  left  the  dock 
at  12  o’clock,  with  58  passengers,  for  New  York,  but 
was  so  much  damaged  by  ice  as  to  be  compelled  to  stop 
several  times  for  repairs,  and  on  reaching  New  York  had 
received  so  much  injury,  that  it  was  resolved  to  lay  her 
up  and  build  a  new  boat  to  run  in  her  place  the  ensuing 
season. 

Dec.  13.  Gerrit  W.  Van  Schaick  died  at  Lansingburgh,. 
after  a  short  but  severe  illness,  aged  59.  He  was  the 
first  cashier  of  the  Bank  of  Albany,  which  office  he  held 
from  1792  to  18 14.  He  was  one  of  the  citizen  soldiers 
who  rallied  to  the  battle-field  when  the  city  was  threat¬ 
ened  by  the  British  under  Burgoyne;  was  afterwards  a 
general  in  the  militia,  and  an  efficient  member  of  the 
common  council. 

The  police  office  was  fixed  at  the  south-west  corner  of 
State  and  Pearl  streets. 

Dec.  28.  “  The  poor  debtors  confined  in  the  jail  of  Al¬ 
bany  beg  leave  to  represent  to  the  charitable  and  humane 
citizens  their  situation  at  this  inclement  season.  There 
are  several  confined  for  small  debts,  who  have  neither 
money  nor  friends,  and  are  far  away  from  their  connec¬ 
tions,  who  are  in  great  want.  It  has  been  suggested 
that  the  mention  of  these  facts  would  be  a  sufficient  hint 
to  the  charitable  and  humane  to  supply  their  wants. 
They  would  feel  grateful  for  such  broken  meats  and 
vegetables  as  the  opulent  have  it  in  their  power  to  spare.” 

On  the  meeting  of  the  legislature,  in  January  follow¬ 
ing,  Martin  Van  Buren  gave  notice  that  he  would  ask 
leave  to  bring  in  a  bill  to  abolish  imprisonment  for  debt 
and  to  punish  frauds  against  creditors.  It  was  brought 
in  on  Feb.  5. 


120  Notes  from  the  Newspapers . 

1817. 

Jan.  23.  A  meeting  of  the  gentlemen  of  the  city  of 
Albany,  friendly  to  the  settlement  of  the  Rev.  Hooper 
Cummings  in  the  church  owned  by  the  society  denomi¬ 
nated  Seceders ,  in  the  said  city,  are  earnestly  solicited 
to  meet  at  the  said  Seceders ’  Church  this  evening,  the 
23d  January,  at  six  o’clock,  on  business  of  the  greatest 
importance.  By  order  of  the  adjourned  meeting. 

David  Newland,  Ch’n. 

Feb.  5.  A  bill  was  reported  to  the  legislature  to  en¬ 
courage  the  search  for  coal  near  the  city  of  Troy. 

Feb.  6.  The  weather  has  been  unremittingly  cold  for 
some  days,  and  on  Wednesday  morning  (6th)  the  ther¬ 
mometer  stood  at  11  degs.  below  zero;  on  the  5th,  at 
Northampton,  20  degs.  below,  and  at  Hanover,  N.  H., 
30  degs.  below;  and  on  the  three  following  days  10  deg., 
17  degs.  and  10  degs.  below  zero. 

Feb.  7.  The  inhabitants  of  the  city  of  Albany,  mem¬ 
bers  of  the  legislature  and  strangers  favorable  to  the  ob¬ 
ject,  were  requested  to  attend  a  meeting  in  the  court 
room  of  the  Capitol,  for  the  consideration  of  measures 
which  may  tend  to  the  most  speedy  and  effectual  aboli¬ 
tion  of  slavery. 

Feb.  8.  The  ceremony  took  place  at  the  Capitol  of 
presenting  the  swords  awarded  by  the  legislature  of  this 
state  in  1814  to  Maj.-Gen.  Brown,  of  the  U.  S.  army, 
and  Maj.-Gen.  Mooers,  of  the  New  York  militia.  They 
w*ere  presented  by  Gov.  Tompkins,  in  presence  of  a  large 
auditory. — Daily  Adv.,  Feb.  19^ 

Feb.  14.  This  was  the  coldest  day  that  had  been  known 
in  the  city  for  sixteen  years.  At  8  o’clock  in  the  morn¬ 
ing  the  thermometer  stood  at  10  degs.  below  zero ;  at 
2  p.  m.,  7 h  degs.  below;  at  5  p.  m.,  3  degs.  below;  at 
6  p.  m.,  12  degs.  below  0.  The  cold  Friday  of  the  19th 
January,  1810,  the  mercury  was  only  6  degs.=0  in  the 
middle  of  the  day.  The  wind  was  very  high  during  the 
whole  day,  blowing  from  the  north-west.  Very  few  ven¬ 
tured  out  to  transact  business,  and  many  travelers  who 
reached  the  city  were  more  or  less  frozen. 


121 


Notes  from  the  Newspapers. 

Feb.  11.  A  bill  passed  appointing  a  treasurer  of  the 
state,  and  filling  the  blank  with  the  name  of  Garret 
L.  Dox,  of  Auburn. 

March  5.  The  firm  of  Stafford,  Spencer  &  Co.  dis¬ 
solved,  consisting  of  Spencer  Stafford,  Geo.  B.  Spencer, 
Lewis  Benedict,  Hallenteck  Stafford  and  Sebastian  Ty- 
mesen. 

Mr.  Trowbridge,  proprietor  of  the  State  Museum,  gave 
the  first  exhibition  of  his  gas  lights  on  Saturday,  March 
22.  A  laudable  curiosity,  and  a  desire  to  reward  the 
indefatigable  exertions  of  the  proprietor,  drew  together 
a  very  large  assemblage  of  the  most  respectable  citizens 
and  strangers,  who  expressed  a  high  gratification  at  the 
success  of  this  experiment,  the  extent  of  his  collections, 
and  the  tasteful  arrangements  of  his  Museum.  It  is  ex¬ 
pected  that  in  his  subsequent  exhibitions  Mr.  T.  will  be 
able  to  give  a  more  brilliant  display  of  lights,  from  the 
improved  state  of  his  apparatus,  and  the  alterations  sug¬ 
gested  by  experience.— Argus. 

March  25.  At  the  caucus  of  the  members  of  legis¬ 
lature,  a  spirited  contest  was  maintained  between  the 
friends  of  De  Witt  Clinton,  and  those  of  Peter  B.  Porter, 
for  the  nomination,  which  resulted  in  favor  of  the  former, 
85  to  41.  John  Tayh*r  received  the  nomination  for  lieut. 
governor.  The  caucus  was  in  session  till  12  o’clock  at 
night. 

March  27.  Mr.  Trowbridge  announced  some  curious 
experiments  with  his  gas,  such  as  collecting  it  in  glasses, 
allowing  a  person  to  breathe  it,  and  on  the  application 
of  fire,  a  flame  would  proceed  out  of  his  mouth  He 
stated  that  the  nightly  expense  of  lighting  his  establish¬ 
ment  with  oil  and  tallow  candles  was  from  $1*87  to  $2* 
25.  The  coal  a*nd  wood  which  he  consumed  to  produce 
sufficient  gas  for  120  burners  amounted  to  only  63  cents. 

March  31.  The  legislature  passed  a  law  for  the  aboli¬ 
tion  of  slavery  in  the  state  of  New  York,  to  take  place 
on  the  4th  day  of  July,  1827.  This  law  enacted  that 
every  negro,  mulatto  or  mustee,  within  the  state,  born 
before  the  4th  day  of  July,  1797,  shall  from  and  after  the 
4th  day  of  July,  1827,  be  free;  and  that  all  negroes, 


122 


Notes  from  the  Newspapers . 

mulattoes  and  mustees,  born  after  the  4th  day  of  July, 
1799,  shall  be  free,  males  at  the  age  of  28,  and  females 
at  the  age  of  25. 

April  1.  The  partnership  between  Yinal  Luce  and  R. 
M.  -  Meigs,  under  the  firm  of  V.  Luce  &  Co.,  was  dis¬ 
solved  on  the  1st  April,  Mr.  Meigs  retiring. 

The  firm  of  Hochstrasser  &  Boldeman,  consisting  of 
Paul  Hochstrasser  and  John  D.  Boldeman,  on  the  corner 
of  Broadway  and  Maiden  lane,  now  Stanwix  Hall,  was 
dissolved,  the  former  settling  the  business. 

April  2.  The  ice  commenced  breaking  up  in  the  river 
on  Wednesday  April  2,  and  on  the  following  day  the 
channel  was  clear. 

April  6.  A  charity  sermon  was  preached  in  the  first 
Presbyterian  Church  for  the  relief  of  indigent  women  and 
children,  and  a  collection  of  $225*15  taken  up. 

April  10.  The  copartnership  between  Thomas,  Joseph 
and  Elihu  Russell  dissolved. 

April  12.  Elihu  Russell  respectfully  informs  his  friends 
and  the  public  that  he  has  connected  himself  with 
Joseph  Davis  and  that  the  business  will  in  future  be  con¬ 
ducted  under  the  firm  of  Russell  &  Davis,  at  the  well 
known  establishment,  864  Noith-Market  street,  where 
they  offer  for  sale  a  general  assortment  of  Paints,  Oils 
Glasses,  &c.  on  moderate  terms.  House  and  Sign  Paint¬ 
ing  and  Glazing  attended  to  at  the  shortest  notice,  and 
the  smallest  favors  acknowledged.  Elihu  Russell. 

Joseph  Davis. 

April  3  5.  The  bill  authorizing  the  construction  of  the 
Erie  Canal  from  Albany  to  Buffalo,  passed  the  legislature 
on  the  day  of  its  adjournment  and  became  a  law — the 
greatest  scheme  of  the  state  of  New  York. 

A  law  passed  the  legislature  entitled,  “An  act  to  en¬ 
courage  the  persons  therein  named  to  search  for  coal  in 
the  bed  of  Hudson’s  river,  near  the  city  of  Troy. 

April  15.  Troy. — It  may  not  be  uninteresting  to  those 
who  barely  know  that  within  a  few  years  this  town 
has  obtained  the  honor  of  being  placed  on  the  map  of 
this  state,  that  it  is  now  about  thirty  years  since  the 
first  store  was  erected  here ;  at  that  time  there  were  only 


Notes  from  the  Newspapers,  123 

four  or  five  dwelling  houses  within  the  limits  of  the  pre¬ 
sent  city  of  Troy.  This  city  contains  now  about  5000 
inhabitants.  In  the  course  of  last  week  there  was  shipped 
here  property  estimated  at  a  moderate  calculation  to 
amount  to  $200,000,  consisting  principally  of  flour,  wheat, 
provisions,  lumber,  potash,  &c.  The  flour  was  manu¬ 
factured  at  the  mills  in  the  south  part  of  the  city,  of 
which  there  are  four  of  very  superior  workmanship, 
both  as  respects  their  plan,  and  durability  of  mate¬ 
rials. 

May  2.  At  the  election  for  state  officers  held  on  the  2d 
May,  De  Witt  Clinton  received  227  votes  for  governor. 
The  Daily  Advertiser  remarks  that  there  was  a  general 
apathy.  The  vote  of  the  preceding  year  was  765  for 
governor.  Stephen  Van  Rensselaer  received  412  for 
assembly,  which  was  the  highest  vote  cast  for  any  can¬ 
didate. 

May  5.  The  Lancaster  school  was  removed  into  the 
building  prepared  for  it  by  the  corporation,  at  the  foot 
of  Jay  and  Lancaster  streets,  on  Eagle ;  the  building  occu¬ 
pied  at  this  day  as  the  Albany  Medical  College.  The 
address  delivered  by  Dr.  Beck  was  published  on  the  12th 
in  the  Advertiser. 

By  the  arrangements  of  the  steam  boat  company  this 
season,  a  day  boat  was  to  leave  three  times  a  week  at  9 
o’clock  in  the  morning,  and  twice  a  week  at  4  in  the 
afternoon. 

May  9.  T.  W.  Ford,  31  State  street,  corner  of  Market, 
advertised  Boston  shoes — the  first  notice  of  them. 

May  20.  The  trustees  of  the  Albany  Water  Works 
appealed  to  their  customers  to  paj7-  their  rates  yearly  in 
advance  to  enable  them  to  relay  their  pipes,  that  had 
been  injured  by  the  frost  of  the  previous  winter,  which 
had  penetrated  deeper  than  ever  before  known,  on  ac¬ 
count  of  the  bareness  of  the  ground.  They  represent 
that  they  had  expended  upwards  of  $80,000  in  supplying 
the  city  with  water. 

May  26.  Martin^  Van  Buren  and  Benjamin  F.  Butler 
have  formed  a  connection  in  the  practice  of  the  law. 
Their  office  is  at  111  State  street. 


124 


Notes  from  the  Newspapers. 

June.  Tliomas  W.  Olcott  appointed  cashier  of  the 
Mechanics’  and  Farmers’  Bank. 

July  11.  Died,  July  11,  Dr.  Samuel  Stringer,  in  the 
83d  year  of  his  age.  He  was  a  native  of  the  state  of 
Maryland,  but  acquired  his  medical  education  in  Phila¬ 
delphia.  In  1755  he  received  an  appointment  in  the 
medical  department  of  the  British  army.  In  1758  he 
accompanied  the  army  under  Abercrombie,  and  was  pre¬ 
sent  when  Lord  Howe  fell  in  advancing  to  the  siege  of 
Ticonderoga.  At  the  conclusion  of  the  French  war  he 
settled  in  Albany,  in  the  practice  of  his  profession,  in 
which  he  continued  until  the  commencement  of  the  revo¬ 
lution,  when  he  was  appointed  by  congress  director  gen¬ 
eral  of  the  hospitals  in  the  northern  department,  and 
accompanied  the  troops  in  the  invasion  of  the  British 
dominions  in  Canada.  He  closed  a  long  course  of  suc¬ 
cessful  practice  as  an  eminent  physician  and  surgeon,  in 
the  discharge  of  every  Christian  duty  as  a  humble  servant 
and  follower  of  the  Messiah. 

Aug.  14.  Dr.  T.  Romeyn  Beck  was  elected  principal  of 
the  Albany  Academy,  and  professor  of  mathematics. 

Aug.  21.  It  was  announced  that  the  elegant  little  steam 
boat  Stoudinger,  Capt.  Fish,  arrived  from  Troy,  and  would 
ply  regularly  between  this  city  and  Troy,  during  the  re¬ 
mainder  of  the  season,  for  the  transportation  of  freight 
and  passengers. 

Aug.  This  was  an  era  of  shin-plasters.  Calvin  Cheese- 
man,  was  a  noted  private  banker,  who  issued  a  large 
amount  of  notes,  which  had  an  extensive  circulation. 
His  bubble  burst  and  the  community  suffered  severely  by 
it.  It  was  estimated  that  he  had  $150,000  in  circulation. 
His  assignees  were  J.  V.  N.  Yates  and  C.  Humphrey. 

Aug.  The  steam  boat  left  Albany  four  days  in  the 
week,  namely,  a  boat  left  on  Monday,  Wednesday, 
Thursday  and  Saturday,  at  9  A.  M.  The  time  of  leav¬ 
ing  New  York  was  Tuesday  and  Friday  at  7  A.  M.,  and 
Wednesday  and  Saturday  at  5  A.  M. 

A  boat  commenced  running  on  Lake  George  at  this 
time,  from  Ticonderoga  to  Caldwell,  fare  $2.  Capt. 
Bartholomew. 


Notes  from  the  Newspapers .  125 

June  30.  A  loaf  of  superfine  inspected  flour  to  weigh 
21bs.  2oz.  for  1  shilling. 

Sept.  It  was  announced  that  the  Chancellor  Livingston, 
at  one  trip  to  New  York,  carried  276  passengers. 

Sept  1.  Dissolution. — The  copartnership  of  G.  W. 
Stanton  &  Co.,  of  the  city  of  New  York,  and  of  Nahum 
Rice  &  Co.,  of  Albany,  is  this  day  dissolved  by  mutual 
consent.  G.  W.  Stanton, 

Nahum  Rice. 

Sept.  13.  A  letter  to  the  editor  of  the  Register  says 
that  45  miles  of  the  canal  were  under  contract,  and  going 
on,  and  that  the  whole  line  from  Utica  to  Salina  would 
be  put  out  in  the  course  of  a  week. 

Sept  17.  John  Gill  died,  aged  75. 

Sept  30.  On  Tuesday,  Sept.  30,  Arthur  Joseph  Stans- 
bury  was  installed  pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian 
church  and  congregation  in  this  city.  The  sermon  on 
the  occasion  was  delivered  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Wood,  of  Am¬ 
sterdam,  the  charge  by  Rev.  Mr.  Chester  of  the  2d  Pres¬ 
byterian  church  in  Albany,  and  the  address  by  Rev.  Dr. 
Nott. 

Sept  30,  The  annual  election  for  charter  officers  was 
held  on  Tuesday,  Sept.  30,  and  resulted  in  the  choice  of 
the  following  candidates. 

FirJ  Ward. 

Aldermen.  Assistants. 

John  V.  N.  Yates,*  Spencer  Stafford,* 

Isaac  Denniston.*  John  Stillwell.* 

Second  Ward. 

Chauncey  Humphrey,*  Adam  Russ, 

Chas.  E.  Dudley.*  Wm.  Newton. 

Third  Ward. 

Nicholas  Bleecker,  Gerrit  Gates, 

Rich’d  S.  Treat.  Nidi's  Bleecker  jr. 

Fourth  Ward. 

Matthew  Trotter,  Rich’d  Duncan,* 

Sam’l  Harring.*  Moses  Kenyon. 

*  Democrats.  It  will  be  seen  that  several  of  these  citizens  sub¬ 
sequently  changed  sides. 


126 


Notes  from  the  Newspapers. 

Fifth  Ward. 

Isaac  I.  Fryer,  Henry  W.  Snyder, 

Jas.  Gibbons.  /  Herman  V.  Hart. 

The  common  council  was  composed  of  12  federalists 
and  8  democrats. 

Oct  10.  James  Geddes,  engineer,  advertised  to  receive 
proposals  for  making  the  canal  to  connect  the  waters  of 
Lake  Champlain  with  those  of  the  Hudson  at  Albany.. 
The  line  was  to  be  divided  into  convenient  sections,  and 
on  the  tenth  of  October  the  contracts  might  be  handed  in, 
at  Sandy  Hill. 

Oct.  7.  A  meeting  of  citizens  was  held  at  Moody’s 
Tavern  in  South-Market  street,  to  take  into  considera¬ 
tion  the  propriety  of  abolishing  the  circulation  of  small 
bills.  They  resolved,  after  the  first  day  of  November 
not  to  receive  nor  pass  any  bills  of  a  less  denomination 
than  one  dollar,  except  bills  emitted  by  the  corporation 
of  the  city.  James  Gibbons,  chairman;  Wm.  Mayell, 
secretary. 

Died,  on  Wednesday  morning,  Oct.  8,  Robert  McClellan, 
formely  treasurer  of  the  state. 

Also  Casparus  Pruyn,  an  old,  respected  citizen. 

James  McNaughton  respectfully  informs  the  citizens 
of  Albany  that  he  has  opened  an  office  in  91  North  Pearl 
street,  with  a  view  to  beginning  to  practice  medicine. 
He  studied  the  different  branches  of  medicine  at  the  Uni¬ 
versity  of  Edinburgh  for  four  years,  he  attended  the 
Livingston  Hospital  of  that  city  three  courses,  and  the 
Royal  Infirmary  two  years.  lie  humbly  trusts  that  by 
steadiness  and  close  attention  to  business,  with  what 
skill  he  possesses,  he  shall  be  enabled  to  give  satisfaction 
to  those  that  do  him  the  honor  to  employ  him.  Patients 
in  any  situation  in  life  will  be  cheerfully  attended;  and 
charges  accommodated  to  the  circumstances  of  the  poor 

Nov.  8.  A  fire  broke  out  about  seven  o’clock  on  Satur¬ 
day  night,  Nov.  8,  in  the  tavern  of  Nathaniel  Parker,  and 
owing  to  a  violent  wind,  the  whole  block,  from  No.  142 
to  186,  Washington  street,  consisting  of  21  houses,  was 
destroyed. 

Died  at  Port  au  Prince,  St.  Domingo,  Archibald  Kane, 


127 


Notes  from  the  Neivspapers. 

merchant,  late  of  the  house  of  James  and  Archibald 
Kane,  of  this  city. 

Nov.  28.  A  whale  was  exhibited  on  the  corner  of  State 
and  Lodge  streets. 


1818. 

Jan.  17.  Theodore  Bailey,  postmaster  of  New  York, 
gave  notice  that  hereafter,  during  the  winter  term,  the 
mail  would  be  carried  daily,  except  Sunday,  from  New 
York  to  Albany  and  the  intermediate  places,  on  the  east 
side  of  the  Hudson. 

Jan.  20.  A  meeting  of  the  Republicans  of  the  city  was 
held  at  the  Mansion  House  to  choose  directors  for  a 
Branch  of  the  United  States  Bank  to  be  located  in  the 
city.  Solomon  Soutliwick  was  chairman,  and  Josiah 
Sherman  secretary;  Sebastian  Visscher,  George  Mer¬ 
chant,  Spencer  Stafford,  Josiah  Sherman  and  Samuel  Har¬ 
ing  were  appointed  a  committee  to  nominate  suitable 
persons  for  Directors  to  the  Branch,  who  reported  the 
following:  Isaac  Denniston,  Charles  E.  Dudley,  Martin 
Van  Buren,  John  Stafford,  John  Stillwell,  Isaac  Hemp¬ 
stead,  John  Townsend,  Gilbert  Stewart,  William  Mar¬ 
vin,- William  A.  Duer,  Asa  H.  Center,  Stephen  Van 
Rensselaer,  jr.,  and  Jellis  Winne,  jr. 

Charles  Smyth  established  an  office  at  65  Quay,  for 
the  transportation  of  goods  and  merchandise  to  Detroit 
and  Sandusky  at  the  rate  of  $4 '50  per  100  pounds,  and 
to  Pittsburgh,  the  price  not  to  exceed  $6,  per  100  lbs. 
Goods  should  be  shipped  at  New  York  by  the  Western 
Line  of  Sloops ,  for  Albany,  and  could  be  delivered  at 
Pittsburgh  in  as  short  a  time  as  any  other  route  dis¬ 
covered.  It  appears  that  from  1812  to  1814,  the  trans¬ 
portation  of  government  supplies  from  Albany  to  Buffalo 
cost  from  $20  to  $30  per  ton,  and  that  the  probable  ex¬ 
pense  of  such  transportation  during  the  three  years  of 
war  for  about  9000  tons  was  $220,000. 

Feb.  11.  The  thermometer  stood  at  13"  below  zero, 
one  degree  lower  than  the  cold  Friday  of  the  previous- 
year.  Some  of  the  thermometers  in  town  ranged  from 
24  to  32°.  One  kept  by  Simeon  De  Witt  stood  at  26° 

[ Annals ,  vi.]  12 


128 


Notes  from  the  Newspapers. 

below  0  on  the  11th;  at  203  on  the  12th,.  and  at  14°  on 
the  18th.  Several  other  excellent  thermometers  in  town 
indicated  still  greater  cold  in  their  respective  locations  on 
the  11th.  That  of  Mr.  Buel  27  that  of  Mr.  Bryan  at 

the  Schuyler  Mansion  at  82°;  that  of  Mr.  Ames  34°. 

%>  _  ' 

March  3.  The  water  rose  to  a  great  height  in  the  river 
in  the  night  of  the  3d  March,  so  that  several  families  in 
Church  st.  would  have  perished  if  they  had  not  been  res¬ 
cued.  The  water  was  two  feet  deep  in  the  bar  room  of 
the  Eagle  Tavern,  on  the  southeast  corner  of  South  Mark¬ 
et  and  Hamilton  streets.  Sloops  were  thrown  upon  the 
dock,  and  the  horse  ferry  boat  was  driven  about  half  way 
up  to  Pearl  street.  A  family  occupied  a  house  on  the 
island  opposite  the  city,  who  were  rescued  by  the  people 
of  Bath.  So  great  a  freshet  had  not  been  known  in  forty 
years. 

March  30.  The  great  bell  intended  for  the  South 
Dutch  church,  on  Beaver  street,  arrived  on  board  the 
sloop  Columbia,  Capt.  Green.  It  was  founded  in  Hol¬ 
land  and  weighed  upwards  of  2500  lbs.  It  was  used 
about  twenty  years,  it  is  believed. 

May  5.  At  the  election  which  took  place  on  Tuesday, 
May  5,  the  following  officers  were  elected. 

First  Ward — Geo.  Webster,  and  Sebastian  Visscher, 
assessors;  Geo.  Sheppard,  supervisor. 

Second  Ward — John  Van  Schaick,  supervisor;  Matthew 
Gregory  and  Chas.  E.  Dudley,  assessors. 

Third  Ward — Nicholas  Bleecker,  supervisor;  Henry 
Truax  and  Edward  R.  Satterlee,  assessors. 

Fourth  Ward — Simeon  De  Witt,  supervisor;  Wm.  Me 
Ilarg  and  Edward  Dunn,  assessors. 

Fifth  Ward — Isaac  I.  Fryer,  supervisor;  John  A.  Goe- 
waj'  and  Francis  Costigan,  assessors. 

A  strenuous  effort  was  made  at  the  last  session  of  the 
legislature  to  effect  the  abolishment  of  imprisonment  for 
debt.  A  bill  passed  the  senate  having  that  object  in  view, 
but  was  suffered,  either  from  design  on  neglect,  to  remain 
unacted  upon  in  the  other  house. 

June  1.  The  brick  theatre  in  Green  street,  which  had 
been  erected  several  years,  and  had  been  unoccupied  some 
time,  was  sold  to  the  Baptist  society,  and  a  subscription 


129 


Notes  from  the  Newspapers. 

list  circulated  to  raise  funds  for  the  purpose  of  fitting  it 
up  for  church  purposes.  It  was  dedicated  on  the  1st  of 
January,  1819,  Joshua  Bradley,  pastor.  A  collection  was 
taken  up  in  aid  of  the  funds  of  the  society,  amounting  to 
$356*14.  Dr.  Nott  officiated  in  the  evening. 

June.  It  was  announced  that  the  Rev.  Mr.  Lacy,  of  Ox¬ 
ford,  Chenango  Co.,  had  been  invited  to  take  the  pastoral 
charge  of  the  Episcopal  congregation  in  Albany,  and 
would  enter  upon  the  duties  of  his  office  about  the  first 
of  July.  He  left  the  city  about  1832. 

July  4.  A  deputation  having  been  sent  to  Quebec  for 
the  remains  of  the  gallant  Gen.  Montgomery,  measures 
were  taken  to  receive  them  in  this  city  in  an  appropriate 
manner.  On  arrival  of  the  body  and  escort, in  Troy,  on 
the  evening  of  the  3d  July,  Mr.  John  Meads,  of  Albany, 
proceeded  there  with  a  splendid  coffin,  made  under  the 
direction  of  Gov.  Clinton,  in  which  the  remains  were 
placed,  and  rested  in  the  court  house  there  over  night, 
in  charge  of  a  guard.  Upon  the  lid  of  the  coffin  was 
placed  a  silver  plate  engraved  by  Messrs.  Shepard  &  Boyd, 
then  silversmiths  in  this  city,  and  a  gold  plate  having  the 
arms  of  the  state  engraved  thereon.  The  silver  plate  had 
the  following  inscription.  “The  State  of  New  York,  in 
honor  of  Gen.  Richard  Montgomery,  who  fell  gloriously 
fighting  for  the  independence  and  liberty  of  the  United 
States,  before  the  walls  of  Quebec,  the  31st  day  of  Dec. 
1775,  caused  these  remains  of  this  distinguished  hero  to 
be  conveyed  from  Quebec,  and  deposited,  on  the  8th  day 
of  July,  in  St.  Paul’s  church  in  the  city  of  New  York, 
near  the  monument  erected  to  his  memory  by  the  United 
States.  ”  Arrived  at  the  north  bounds  of  the  city, 
the  remains  were  received  by  the  corporation,  a  large 
concourse  of  citizens,  the  military  of  the  city,  under  the 
command  of  Lt.  Col  La  Grange,  and  the  fine  companies 
of  United  States  troops,  commanded  by  Majors  Birdsall 
and  Worth.  The  procession  then  returned  in  reversed 
order  through  North  Market,  Columbia  and  North  Pearl 
streets  to  Gov.  Clinton’s  house,  corner  of  Steuben  street ; 
thence  through  Steuben,  Market  and  State  streets  to  the 
Capitol,  and  there  deposited  in  the  Council  chamber. 


130 


Notes  from  the  Newspapers . 

The  pall  was  borne  by  the  following  gentlemen,  officers 
in  the  revolutionary  army,  namely;  John  Lansing,  jr. , 
Stephen  Lush,  John  H.  Wendell,  John  Visscher,  John 
Gates,  Matthew  Trotter,  Wilhelmus  Ryckman,  Nicholas 
Van  Rensselaer,  Elias  John  Shaw,  Samuel  Lewis,  of 
Saratoga,  and  John  Ten  Broeck,  of  Hudson.  [On  Mon¬ 
day  Matthew  Gregory  and  Abraham  Ten  Eyck  took  the 
places  of  the  two  latter.]  Three  of  these,  namely,  Cols. 
Visscher,  Van  Rensselaer,  and  Mr.  Gates,  were  with  the 
gallant  hero  when  he  fell.  During  the  procession,  minute 
guns  were  fired  and  the  city  bells  tolled. 

The  remains  were  kept  at  the  Capitol  guarded  by  Capt. 
Lansing’s  company  of  artillery,  until  Monday  morning, 
when  they  were  removed,  under  the  escort  of  the  military, 
and  attended  by  the  corporation  and  a  concourse  of  citi¬ 
zens,  to  the  steam  boat  Richmond;  and  Cols.  H.  Living¬ 
ston  and  Peter  Gansevoort,  governor’s  aids,  and  Col.  L. 
Livingston,  accompanied  them  to  New  York,  escorted  by 
a  subaltern’s  guard  of  United  States  troops  from  Major 
Worth’s  detachment. 

The  peculiarly  appropriate  time  of  the  arrival  of  the 
remains,  rendered  the  occasion  doubly  interesting,  it 
being  the  anniversary  of  that  freedom  for  the  achieve¬ 
ment  of  which  Montgomery  fell. 

On  Sunday  Evening,  July  12,  Hamilton,  a  recruit,  mur¬ 
dered  Maj.  Benjamin  Birdsall  of  the  United  States  Rifle 
Regiment.  It  was  the  melancholy  fate  of  this  gallant 
officer,  after  recovering  from  a  dangerous  wound  received 
at  Fort  Erie,  to  fall  in  this  manner.  He  was  interred  on 
Monday  evening  at  6  o’clock. 

Lambert  Norton  advertised  that  he  would  open  a  school 
for  the  purpose  of  teaching  the  ordinary  English  studies. 

July  29.  Rawdon  and  Balch,  C5  State  street,  advertised 
that  they  had  entered  into  business  at  the  old  stand  of 
Mr.  Rawdon,  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  on  the  business 
of  engraving. 

Sept.  4.  Mr.  Joseph  Lancaster,  who  had  arrived  in  this 
city,  was  invited  to  give  an  address  to  the  public  by  the 
trustees  of  the  Lancaster  School.  He  visited  the  school, 
where  he  was  addressed  by  Simeon  De  Witt,  and  made 
a  speech  in  return. 


(131) 


INSCRIPTIONS 

IN  THE 

REF.  PROT.  DUTCH  BURIAL  GROUND. 


Andrew  Abel,  wheelwright,  who  was  born  on  the  12th 
day  of  March,  1779,  and  died  on  the  22d  day  of  April, 
1815. 

Johannah,  wife  of  Andrew  Able,  who  died  May  30,  1828, 
aged  76  years,  3  months  and  21  days. 

Ann  Able,  daughter  of  Andrew  and  Johannah  Able,  who 
died  April  16th,  1810,  aged  35  years,  9  months  and  27 
days. 

Andrew  Able,  who  departed  this  life  Oct.  5,  1795,  aged 
48  years  and  11  days. 

Peter,  son  of  Andrew  and  Anatie  Able,  who  died  Feb. 
15,  1794,  aged  9  months  and  25  days. 

Henry  Van  Patten,  son  of  Henry  and  Elizabeth  Able, 
who  died  Oct.  28,  1807,  aged  1  year,  3  months  and  29 
days;  also,  their  daughter  Hester,  who  died  Nov.  13. . 
1807,  aged  3  years,  1  month  and  11  days. 

Two  infant  children  of  H.  and  E.  Able,  who  died  in  1821. 

Elizabeth,  wife  of  Henry  Able,  who  died  5th  May, 
1823,  aged  43  years,  1  month  and  28  days. 

Henry  Able,  born  1772,  May  25,  and  departed  this  life 
1832,  July  19,  aged  60  years,  1  month  and  25  days. 

Elizabeth  Able,  who  died  27th  August,  1829,  aged  45 
years,  4  months  and  23  days. 

Lydia,  consort  of  John  Abbott,  who  died  August  9th, 
1822,  aged  32  years,  5  months  and  1  day. 

Jacob  Ackerman,  who  departed  this  life  Oct.  26th,  1825, 
aged  26  years  and  4  days. 

Rachel  DeGarmo,  relict  of  Gilbert  Ackerman,  who  de¬ 
parted  this  life  August  10th,  1827,  in  the  54th  year  of 
her  age. 

Gilbert  Ackerman,  who  departed  this,  life  Oct.  11th, 
1834,  aged  66  years  and  10  months,. 


132  Ref .  Prot.  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions . 

Horace  Allen,  who  departed  this  life  Nov.  1st,  1836,  in 
the  61st  year  of  his  age. 

Jane  Allen,  who  departed  this  life  Sept.  4,  1842,  aged  72 
years. 

Wm.  Amsden,  who  died  July  2d,  1838,  aged  54  years,  6 
months. 

“Blessed  is  him  who  died  in  the  Lord.” 

Caroline,  born  March  2,  1839,  died  Jan.  13,  1842;  David, 
born  Dec.  25,  1840,  died  Feb.  6,  1842;  Angeline 
Brinckerhoof,  born  June  7,  1843,  died  Aug.  26,  1845; 
children  of  John  B.  and  Eliza  Armour. 

NoadialiL.  Arms,  who  departed  this  life  March  8,  1841, 
in  the  47th  year  of  his  age. 

In  him  were  combined  in  an  eminent 
degree  all  the  social  virtues. 

He  was  a  kind  husband,  a  devoted 
father  and  brother,  and  a  firm  friend. 

Seth  Arnold  died  April  12th,  1851,  aged  60  years. 

Magdalena,  wife  of  Seth  Arnold,  died  July  10,  1838,  aged 
46  years,  4  months  and  2  days. 

Janet  White,  wife  of  Alex.  Auty,  who  died  in  Albany 
Nov.  11,  1848. 

Benjamin  Baker,  who  departed  this  life  April  10,  1791, 
aged  54  years,  6  months  and  6  days. 

Mary,  relict  of  Stephen  Ball,  died  July  24th,  1844,  in 
the  81st  year  of  her  age. 

Joseph,  son  of  George  A.  and  Louisa  Barnard,  died  Feb. 
21,  1853,  aged  2  years,  8  months  and  21  days. 

Daniel  Henry,  only  son  of  Daniel  E.  and  Harriet  Bas¬ 
sett,  died  Dec.  29th,  1851,  aged  2  years,  11  months 
and  9  days. 

Gone  to  God. 

What  could  the  parents’  fondest  prayer 
ask  for  their  darling,  like  the  bliss  of  Heaven. 

Thomas  Barret,  who  departed  this  life  Dec.  6,  1813,  aged 
72  years. 

Lewis  Becker,  born  March  29,  1807,  died  May  31st. 
1846;  also,  Henrv  P.  Becker,  born  Feb.  3,  1799,  died 
Feb.  2,  1849. 

Mrs.  Hannah  Becker,  died  Feb.  28,  1851,  aged  47  years, 

1  month  and  6  days. 


Ref.  Prot.  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions.  133 

Philev  Amelia  Wood,  wife  of  Thomas  T.  Beebe,  died 
Nov.  5,  1844,  aged  49  years,  7  months  and  10  days. 
[Also  their  children.] 

Noah  Simeon  Beebe,  born  27th  of  March,  1822,  and  died 
April  30,  1834,  aged  12  years,  1  month  and  3  days;  and 
Eliza  Jane  Beebe,  born  22d  May,  1820,  and  died  Oct. 
21st,  1827,  aged  7  years,  4  months,  and  29  days. 

J.  J.  Newton,  son  of  Z.  Smith  and  Sarah  Beebe,  his  wife, 
who  departed  this  life  Sept.  27th,  1840,  aged  2  years, 
9  months  and  9  days. 

’Tis  Jesus  speaks:  I  fold,  says  lie, 

These  lambs  within  my  breast-, 

Protection  they  shall  find  in  me, 

In  me  be  ever  blessed. 

Ann  Beeckman,  daughter  of  Gerardus  and  Ann  Beeck- 
man,  wrho  died  3d  October,  1821,  aged  52  years  and 
17  days. 

Sarah  Beeckman,  daughter  of  John  Jac.  Beeckman,  Esq., 

who  departed  this  life  March  15,  1792,  aged  20  years, 

3  months  and  6  days. 

•/ 

Eve  Beeckman,  daughter  of  John  Jac.  Beeckman,  who 
departed  this  life  Dec.  6,  1792,  aged  18  years,  5 
months  and  12  days. 

In  memory  of  Maria  Sanders,  wife  of  John  Jacob  Beeck¬ 
man,  who  departed  this  life  Nov.  2,  1794,  aged  54 
yeais  and  22  days. 

In  memory  of  John  Jacob  Beeckman,  Esq.,  who  departed 
this  life  Dec.  17,  1802,  aged  69  years,  3  months  and 
28  days. 

John  S.  Beeckman,  born  Aug.  23,  1781,  died  Jan.  14, 
1845. 

Harriet,  wife  of  Caleb  N.  Bement,  died  July  29,  1823, 
aged  31  years,  8  months  and  7  days.  Also,  Mary, 
daughter  of  C.  N.  Bement,  died  May  1st,  1822,  aged 
1  year,  5  months  and  12  days.  Also,  Edward,  son  of 
C.  N.  &  II.  Bement,  died  Aug.  7,  1825,  aged  7  weeks. 

George,  son  of  Caleb  N.  &  Caroline  Bement,  died  Feb. 
18,  1827,  aged  1  year  and  10  months. 

William  Bement  died  Jan  18,  1841,  aged  74  years. 


134  Ref.  Prot.  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions. 

Caroline,  wife  of  Caleb  N.  Bement,  aged  30  years  and  9 
months;  also  Mary,  daughter  of  C.  N.  and  Caroline 
Bement,  died  Jan.  11,  1836,  aged  3  years  and  6 
months. 

Jane,  wife  of  William  Bement,  died  March  8th,  1827, 
aged  50  years. 

Cornellia,  wife  of  R.  0.  K.  Bennett,  who  died  Jan.  16, 
1852,  aged  38  years,  11  months. 

In  memory  of  Catharine,  daughter  of  R.  0.  K.  Bennett, 
who  died  April  10,  1825,  aged  18  years  and  1  month. 

Heer  rust  Teunis  Bennink,  den  10  January,  1836,  over- 
leeden  den  8  January,  1852,  zoon  van  Beren  H.  Ben¬ 
nink,  Johanna  W.  Dampot.  • 

B.  H.  Bennink. 

In  memory  of  John  Benson,  who  died  August,  1834, 
aged  36  years,  6  months  and  10  days. 

David  Bleeckley,  who  departed  this  life  July  19th,  1807, 
aged  50  years. 

Elizabeth,  wife  of  Thomas  Bleeckley,  who  died  May 
3d,  1805,  aged  76  years. 

Sarah  Bleeckley,  daughter  of  George  and  Sarah  Bleeck¬ 
ley,  died  Dec.  7,  1816,  aged  21  years,  6  days. 

In  memory  of  Margaret,  daughter  of  Henry  F.  and  Mary 
Bleecker,  who  departed  this  life  on  the  15th  day  of 
October,  1801,  aged  1  year  and  3  days. 

In  memory  of  Hannah  Bleecker,  daughter  of  John  N. 
and  Margaret  Bleecker,  who  died  the  14th  of  October, 
1794,  aged  8  years,  6  months  and  12  days. 

In  memory  of  Harriet  Romeyn  Bleecker,  daughter  of 
Henry  I.  Bleecker  and  Mary  Storm,  who  died  Jan.  23, 
1808,  aged  4  years,  1  month  and  28  days. 

This  stone  is  erected  by  John  B  Romeyn  and  Harriet  Bleecker, 

to  whom  she  was  a  most  engaging  and  affectionate  child. 

In  memory  of  John  N.  Bleecker,  who  departed  this  life 
October  23,  1825,  aged  86  years,  1  month  and  21  days. 

In  memory  of  Henry  I.  Bleecker,  who  died  the  28th  of 
January,  1808,  in  the  30th  year  of  his  age. 

In  memory  of  Margaret  Van  Deusen,  wife  of  John  N. 
Bleecker,  who  departed  this  life  the  13th  of  April, 
1794,  aged  47  years,  8  months  and  23  days. 


Ref.  Prot.  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions .  135 

Sacred  to  the  memory  of  Ann  Bleecker,  daughter  of 
John  I.  Bleecker,  who  departed  this  life  September  3, 
1811,  aged  40  years,  3  months  and  11  days. 

When  worms  devour  my  wasting  flesh 
And  crumble  all  my  hones  to  dust, 

My  God  shall  raise  my  frame  anew 
At  the  revival  of  the  just. 

Sacred  to  the  memory  of  John  I.  Bleecker,  who  departed 
this  life  June  13th,  1811,  aged  80  years  and  24  days. 

In  memory  of  Jacob  I.  Bleecker,  who  departed  this  life 
September  10,  1804,  aged  27  years,  8  months  and  28 
days. 

In  memory  of  Jacob  Bleecker,  who  departed  this  life 
October  5,  1802,  aged  74  years  and  3  days. 

In  memory  of  John  Bleecker,  Jr.,  who  departed  this  life 
Dec.  30,  1807.  aged  3  years,  1  month  and  22  days. 

In  memory  of  Margaret  Roseboom,  widow  of  Nicholas 
Bleecker,  Jr.,  deceased,  who  departed  this  life  16th 
August,  1794,  aged  88  years,  3  months  and  16  days. 

Beneath  are  deposited  the  remains  of  Ann  Eliza  Bleeck¬ 
er,  wife  of  John  James  Bleecker,  she  died  23d  Nov. 
1783,  aged  31  years. 

Here  are  deposited  the  remains  of  Jacob  Bleecker,  Jr., 
who  died  the  30th  of  Nov.,  1806,  in  the  62d  year  of 
his  age. 

The  memory  of  the  just  is  bless’d. 

Catharine  Cuyler  Staats,  wife  of  Nicholas  Bleecker,  Jr., 
who  departed  this  life  May  11th,  1826,  aged  33  years, 

9  months  and  28  days. 

Also,  of  their  daughter  Catharine  Cuyler,  who  died  June 
2,  1825,  aged  10  monthsand  29  days. 

And  of  their  son  Staats,  who  died  June2,  1826,  aged  2 
months  and  3  days. 

Here  are  deposited  the  remains  of  Elizabeth  Bleecker, 
widow  of  Jacob  Bleecker,  Jr.,  she  died  the  14th  day 
of  March,  1818.  in  the  65th  year  of  her  age. 

Here  are  deposited  the  remains  of  Jacob  I.  Bleecker,  , 
who  died  the  20th  day  of  February,  1838,  in  the  61st 
year  of  his  age. 


136  Ref.  Prot  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions. 

In  memory  of  Sybrant  Bleecker,  Esq.,  who  departed  this 
life  April  29,  1814,  aged  40  years,  5  months  and  24 
days. 

Death,  the  stern  monarch  warns  the  saint  away, 

And  heavy  pains  the  trembling:  flesh  consume, 

See  frigid  fate  its  Ebon  wand  display, 

And  point  to  the  gloomy  mansion  of  the  Tomb. 

Jane  Shepherd,  wife  of  G.  V.  S.  Bleecker,  died  Jan.  1, 
1844,  in  the  43d  year  of  her  age. 

James  E.,  son  of  James  and  Ann  Bleecker,  died  Nov. 
13th,  1845,  aged  60  years. 

James  V.  D.  Bleecker,  son  of  James  and  Margaret 
Bleecker,  who  died  January  22d,  1814,  aged  6 

Why  was  this  infant  torn  from  the  breast? 

Because  it  claimed  a  right  losing  above. 

I  be  reft  but  now  it’s  found  that  happy  shore. 

Sarah  Jane,  daughter  of  Garret  V.  S.  and  Jane  Bleecker, 
who  died  Dec.  25,  1830,  aged  11  months. 

Jane  And,  daughter  of  Alonzo  L.  and  Maria  Blanchard, 
who  died  Sept.  11,  1829,  aged  10  months  and  26  days. 

Mary,  daughter  of  Abm.  and  Eliza  Bloodgood,  who  died 
13th  April,  1794,  aged  4  years. 

Joanna  Frances,  daughter  of/S.  Dewitt  Bloodgood  and 
Eliza  Van  Schaick,  born  Aug.  7.  1825,  died  Aug.  6, 
1826,  aged  1  year. 

Thou  sleepest,  but  we  will  not  forget  thee. 

Anna  Herser,  wife  of  Alburtus  Bloomindal,  who  departed 
this  life  Nov.  18,  1797,  aged  56  years,  8  months  and 
13  days. 

In  memory  of  Alburtus  Bloomindal.  who  departed  this 
life  July  4,  1817,  in  the  82d  year  of  his  age. 

Barnardus  Bloomindall,  who  died  April  12,  1822,  aged 
54  years,  3  months  and  18  days. 

Heer  ruhet,  in  stillen  friden,  Carl  H.  Billo  geboren  in 
Waslow,  im  yahr  1805,  gestorben  den  4th  October, 
1838.  Von  seiner  frau  Machtalena  Billo. 

Casper,  son  of  William  and  Alida  Boardman,  who  de* 


Ref.  Prot.  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions.  137 

parted  this  life  January  14,  1833,  aged  4  months  and 
3  days. 

Anna,  daughter  of  William  and  Alida  Boardman,  died 
Aug.  18,  1843,  aged  1  year,  7  months  and  12  days. 
Cornellia  Bogart,  daughter  of  Barent  and  Alida  Bogart, 
who  departed  this  life  Jan.  31,  1806,  aged  25  years,  6 
months  and  2  days. 

She  came  forth  like  a  flower,  and  was  cut  down. 

Agnes  Bogart,  daughter  of  Barent  and  Alida  Bogart, 
who  departed  this  life  15th  December,  1818,  aged  6 
years,  2  months  and  8  days. 

Mourn  not  for  me,  beloved  friends, 

Nor  shrink  at  death’s  alarms; 

Its  but  the  voice  that  Jesus  sends 
To  bring  us  to  his  arms. 

Alida  Bogart,  daughter  of  Barent  and  Alida  Bogart,  who 
departed  this  life  20th  day  of  November,  1815,  aged 
27  years,  3  months  and  1  day. 

Alexander  Hamilton  Bogart,  died  Oct.  1,  1826,  aged  21 
years,  9  months  and  15  days. 

Henry  J.  Bogart,  born  Oct.  26,  1829,  died  27th  June, 
1821,  aged  91  years,  7  months. 

In  memory  of  Barbara  Bogart,  wife  of  Henry  J.  Bogart, 
Esq.,  died  23d  October,  1816,  aged  88  years  and  1 
month. 

Isaac  H.  Bogart,  who  died  Sept.  22,  1841,  aged  76  years 
and  15  days. 

Cathlina  Visscher,  relict  of  Isaac  H.  Bogart,  died  April 
10,  1845,  aged  74  years,  2  months  and  14  days. 

James  Boyd,  who  departed  this  life  Feb.  22,  1839,  aged 
77  years  and  21  days. 

“Write,  biessed  are  the  dead  which  die  in  the  lord;  for  if  we  be 
dead  wi  h  him  we  shall  also  live  with  him.” 

In  life  he  exemplified  the  true  character  of  man,  and  in  death  gave 
full  evidence  of  his  spirit  going  to  share  its  blissful  reward. 

Sarah  Ann  Stiles,  wife  of  Levi  N.  Bowlsby,  born  Nov. 

29,  1812,  died  June  16,  1834. 

Alida,  consort  of  James  Boyd,  who  departed  this  life 
August  4,  1838,  in  the  76th  year  of  her  age. 

The  memory  of  the  righteous  shall  be  perpetuated.  She  lived  a 
life  of  obedience,  and  died  in  the  triumph  of  faith. 


138  Ref .  Prot.  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions. 

John  A.  Bradt,  born  November  28,  1779,  departed  this 
life  July  29,  1829. 

An  honest  man  the  noblest  work  of  God. 

John  B.  Bratt,  who  departed  this  life  9th  September, 
1822,  aged  81  years,  1  month  and  23  days. 

Daniel  Bratt,  born  September  23,  1779,  died  July  16, 
1847,  aged  67  years,  9  months  and  23  days. 

Ann  Bloomingdale,  .wife  of  Daniel  Bratt,  born  Novem¬ 
ber  20,  1781,  died  June  24,  1822,  aged  40  years,  7 
months  and  4  days, 

James  Henry  Bratt,  who  died  July  8,  1847,  aged  13 
years,  9  months  and  10  days. 

Henry  Bratt,  who  died  April  2,  1823,  aged  78  years. 

J.  Atwood  Brigen,  Esq.  Erected  by  a  friend. 

John  Brinckerholf,  who  departed  this  life  March  10,  1835, 
aged  61  years,  7  months  and  7  days. 

John  BrinckerhofF,  died  June  7,  1845,  in  the  32d  year  of 
his  age. 

Gertrude  Schuyler,  wife  of  John  BrinckerhofF,  who  de¬ 
parted  this  life  23d  February,  1826,  aged  53  years,  7 
months  and  13  days. 

Eve  Jvjaria,  infant  daughter  of  Cornelius  and  Martha 
BrinckerhofF,  who  departed  this  life  Jan.  12,  1835. 

John  Derick,  infant  son  of  Cornelius  and  Martha  Brinck¬ 
erhofF,  who  died  July  24,  1836,  aged  8  months. 

Teunis  BrinckerhofF,  who  departed  this  life  October  20, 
1843,  aged  35 years  6  months  and  2  days;  also  his  son 
Alfred  I.,  died  June  13,  1839,  aged  6  months  and  18 
days;  also  his  daughter  Charlotte,  died  May  4,  1848, 
aged  1  year,  3  months  and  1 1  days. 

Jacob  BrinckerhofF,  who  departed  this  life,  July  8,  1839, 
aged  61  years,  11  months  and  1  day. 

Angeline,  wife  of  Jacob  BrinckerhofF,  who  departed  this 
life,  July  11,  1841,  aged  63  years,  9  months,  21  days. 

Frances  Brooks,  wife  of  Peter  Brooks,  who  died  April 
25,  1818,  aged  65  years,  6  months  and  5  days. 

Peter  Brooks,  who  departed  this  life,  May  11,  1830,  aged 
53  years,  7  months  and  2  days. 

Catlina,  widow  of  Peter  Brooks,  died  June  21,  1843, 
aged  61  years,  5  months  and  9  days. 

Mary  E.  Roseboom,  wife  of  S.  H.  Brockway,  the  only 


M 


N'UMEXT  T (i 


J  K  S  3  H 


I!  u  !•:  L 


Ref.  Trot.  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions.  139 

daughter  of  Jacob  and  Hannah  Roseboom,  died  Octo¬ 
ber  24,  1846,  aged  19  years,  11  months  and  16  days. 
Erected  by  her  father. 

Gerret,  son  of  Hessel  E.  and  Maria  Brower,  who  died 
October  17,  1830,  aged  8  months  and  13  days. 

Gerret  B.,  son  of  Hessel  E.  and  Maria  Brower,  died 
August  1,  1840,  aged  5  years,  11  months  and  12  days. 
Mary,  wife  of  John  Brower,  who  died  March  31,  1823, 
aged  68  years,  5  months  and  22  days. 

Mary,  wife  of  Hessel  Brower,  who  died,  November  25, 
1849,  in  the  71st  year  of  her  age. 

Mary  Brower,  daughter  of  John  Brower,  and  wife  of 
James  Cameron,  died  June  18,  1835,  aged  54  years.  7 
months  and  12  days. 

Hessel  Brower,  who  died  April  26,  1823,  aged  52  years. 
8  months  and  1  day. 

Robert  R.  Brown,  who  died  the  22d  day  of  January, 
1827,  aged  33  years  and  7  months. 

Mary  Bryant  died  26th  February,  1852,  aged  fifty  years. 
Susan,  wife  of  Jesse  Buel.  born  April  26,  1783,  died  Feb. 
4,  1847. 

Jesse  Buel. 

This  monument  has  br-en  erected 
by  the  family  of  the  deceased,  in  testimony 
of  their  regard  and  esteem  for  the 
kindest  of  husbands,  the  most  affectionate 
of  parents,  and  the  firmest  friend  of 
Agriculture  and  the  Useful  Arts. 

Jesse  Buel,  born  at  Coventry, 

Conn.,  Jan.  4th,  1778,  died  at  Danbury, 

Conn.,  Oct.  6th,  1839,  whose  remains 
are  here  interred. 

Franklin  Shepperd,  son  of  Jesse  and  Mary  C.  Buel,  died 
Dec.  22,  1841,  aged  2  years,  5  months  and  14  days. 

Flown  lovely  babe  from  this  gay  world, 

And  its  deceitful  wiles, 

Thou  in  the  bosom  of  thy  God 
In  peace  and  safety  smiles. 

In  Memory  of 
Elias  Buel, 

Who  died  May  17th,-  1824,. 
in  the  87th  year  of  his  age. 

And  of 

18 


[  Annals ,  vi.] 


140  Ref.  Prot .  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions. 

Sarah  Buel, 

his  wife, 

who  died  April  4t.h,  1824, 
in  the  86th  year  of  her  age 

Sacred  to  the  memory  of  Miss  Alida  Burton,  daughter  of 
Isaac  and  Catharine  Burton,  who  died  January  17. 
1828,  aged  22  years,  4  months  and  12  days. 

Catharine  Burton,  daughter  of  Isaac  and  Catharine  Bur- 
ton,  who  departed  this  life  January  19,  1833,  aged  22 
years,  11  months  and  20  days. 

Isaac  Burton,  born  September  29,  1777,  died  October  16, 
1843,  aged  66  years  and  17  days. 

Ann  Augusta,  wife  of  John  J.  Burton,  who  departed  this 
life  November  29,  1833,  aged  28  years  and  23  days. 

I  will  not  forget  thee. 

Catharine,  wife  of  William  Buxton,  who  died  December 
20,  1823,  aged  17  years. 

Susan  Calhoun,  who  died  November  1,  1836,  aged  32 
years,  10  months. 

Farewell,  vain  world,  I’ve  had  enough  of  thee, 

And  now  I’m  careless  what  thou  say’st  of  me; 

Thy  smiles  I  court  not,  nor  thy  frowns  I  fear; 

My  cares  are  past  and  I  rest  quiet  here. 

Eugene,  infant  son  of  Nathaniel  and  Margaret  E.  Car¬ 
penter,  born  March  26,  died  July  26,  1837,  aged  4  mos. 

“It  is  well.” 

Elizabeth  Mascraft,  daughter  of  George  W.  and  Mary 
Ann  Carpenter,  born  March  the  22d,  1835,  died  Julv 
the  9th,  1836. 

Matthew  Burton,  son  of  George  W.  and  Mary  Ann  Car¬ 
penter,  born  July  6,  1837,  died  August  13,  1838,  aged 
1  year,  1  month,  and  7  days. 

John  Henry,  son  of  William  and  Christiana  Cater,  who 
died  January  22,  1825,  aged  5  months  and  17  days. 

Jane  Canfield  who  died  Nov.  15,  1839,  aged  23  years. 

Abraham  L.  Chambers,  born  May  17,  1838,  died  August 
15,  1853. 

Sweet  is  the  sleep  which  now  I  take, 

Till  in  Christ  Jesus  I  awake. 

John  G.  Clinton,  who  died  November  1,  1833,  aged  3 
years,  3  months  and  28  days. 

Elizabeth,  wife  of  James  P.  Clark,  who  died  November 
5,  1832,  aged  46  years,  7  months  and  8  days. 


Ref.  Prot.  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions .  141 

James  P,  Clark,  who  died  August  26th,  1832,  aged  49 
years,  1  month  and  26  days. 

Harriet,  wife  of  Josiah  Clark,  who  departed  this  life 
October  29,  1838,  aged  33  years. 

To  her  husband  and  family,  she  was  kind,  beloved  and  useful.  To 

her  acquaintance,  an  example  of  piety,  industry  and  economy.  Pru¬ 
dent  and  wise  with  her  God  and  Saviour,  she  died  in  the  faith  of 

Jesus,  with  a  fair  prospect  of  a  better  world. 

Sleep  on,  dear  spouse,  till  Jesus  comes, 

Till  Gabriel’s  trump  shall  burst  the  tombs; 

Then  may  we  wake  in  sweet  surprise, 

Released  from  sin,  in  transport  rise; 

Unite  again  and  soar  on  high, 

No  more  to  part,  no  more  to  die. 

Paul  Clark,  who*  departed  this  life  March  28,  1831,  aged 
66  years. 

Jacob  N.  Clute,  who  departed  this  life  June  9,  1841,  aged 
85  years. 

Jacob  N.  Clute,  who  departed  this  life  November  21, 
1841,  aged  82  years. 

Elizabeth  Cluett,  widow  of  Geritt  Cluett  deceased,  died 
September  20,  1850,  in  the  85th  year  of  her  age. 

Dear  Mother. 

Rebecca,  daughter  of  Philip  P.  and  Eitchey  Conine,  died 
October  8,  1842,  aged  21  years,  2. months  and  23  days. 
How  blest  a  change  that  I  have  made, 

From  sickness’  painful  awful  shade, 

To  joy  and  bliss  which  to  obtain, 

An  earth  I  lost,  a  Heaven  I  gained. 

Sarah  Campbell. 

Caroline  Strong,  wife  of  Hiram  Cobb,  who  departed  this 
life  in  New  York,  on  the  29th  day  of  September,  1836, 
aged  24  years,  8  months  and  21  days;  also,  Rachel 
Ellen,  daughter  of  Hiram  and  Caroline  Cobb,  who  de¬ 
parted  this  life  in  Albany,  September  14,  1834,  aged 
14  months  and  11  days. 

Levi  H.,  son  of  Daniel  K.  and  Laura  A.  Colborn,  died 
July  22,  1843,  aged  2  months  and  4  days. 

Hannah  Van  Denburgh,  wife  of  Obediah  Cooper,  who 
departed  this  life  June  21,  1801,  aged  50  years,  3 
months  and  15  days. 

Sharlot  Cooper  died  in  her  78th  year. 

In  memory  of  Susan  Christina,  wife  of  William  Cooper, 


/ 


142  Kef.  Prot.  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions. 

and  daughter  of  James  and  Anna  Vanderpoel,  who 
died  30th  March,  1841,  aged  29  years,  1  month,  12  days. 

Charles  D.  Cooper,  who  departed  this  life  January  30, 
1831,  in  the  60th  year  of  his  age. 

Bridget  Segar,  wife  of  John  Courtney,  who  departed  this 
life  November  22,  1834,  aged  77  years. 

Almira  E.  Turner,  wife  of  Thomas  P.  Crook,  who  de¬ 
parted  this  life  Aug.  24,  1835,  aged  17  years,  6  months 
and  22  days. 

Dearest  of  wives  and  best,  of  friends,  farewell, 

Who  mourns  thy  loss  alone  thy  worth  can  tell, 

Yet  while  his  heart  this  last  sad  tribute  pays, 

He  feels  too  much  to  celebrate  thy  praise 
Deeply  he  mourns  with  heartfelt  grief  oppressed, 

Weeps  o’er  the  grave  where  thy  dear  ashes  rest; 

But  w'inge^l  with  hopes,  his  ihoughts  ascend  the  skies 
Where  God  shall  wipe  all  tears  from  w'eeping  eyes. 

There  may  w  e  meet,  our  Saviour  to  adore, 

Where  happiness  endures,  and  death  divides  no  more. 

Jacob  Ouyler,  who  departed  this  life  June  5,  1804,  aged 
62  years  and  6  months. 

William  H.  Cuyler,  eldest  son  of  Tobias  Cuyler,  who 
died  June  4,  1824,  in  the  18th  year  of  his  age. 

Lydia  Cuyler,  who  died  February  21,  1808,  aged  65 
years  and  7  months. 

Jane  Cuyler,  wife  of  John  Cuyler,  Jr.,  and  daughter  of 
George  Wray,  Esq.,  who  departed  this  life  November 
16,  1789,  aged  20  years,  1  month  and  26  days. 

Richard  Cuyler,  who  departed  this  life  March  31,  1800, 
aged  32  jmars.  5  months  and  22  days. 

In  memory  of  Elizabeth,  widow  of  Abraham  N.  Cuyler, 
died  January  17,  1842,  aged  86  years. 

Eliza  M.,  daughter  of  William  and  Mary  Day,  died  May 
30,  1839.  aged  34  years. 

Philip  W.  Deforest,  who  departed  this  life  August  19, 
1800,  aged  42  years,  1  month  and  9  days. 

Jemima  Crannell,  wife  of  Philip  I.  De  Forest,  died 
March  30,  1843,  aged  47  j^ears,  7  months  and  11  days. 
Also,  her  grand  child  Jennet,  daughter  of  James  and 
Rebecca  A.  Duncan,  aged  4  years  and  3  months. 

Frances  H  Ball,  wife  of  James  P.  De  Forest,  died  Nov. 
1,  1847,  aged  17  years,  2  months  and  12  days. 

Henry  T.,  died  February  18,  1851,  aged  3  years  and  29 


Ref.  Prot.  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions .  14S 

days.  N.  I.  Marsellus,  died  June  3,  1851,  aged  1  year 
and  11  days.  Jacob  and  Elmira,  born  May  17,  1852, 
Elmira  died  July  25,  1852,  Jacob  died  August  3, 1852,. 
children  of  J.  J.  and  E.  C.  De  Forest. 

Philip  Defreest  departed  this  life  Sept.  16th,  1837,  in  the 
38th  year  of  his  age. 

Who  hath  not  gazed  upon  the  dust, 

Once  partner  of  its  pleasure  sweet, 

And  thought,  how  sacred  is  the  trust, 

Our  parted  spirits  yet  shall  meet! 

Garret  De  Garmo,  who  departed  this  life  December  19V 
1809,  aged  34  years,  5  months  and  9  days. 

Cornelia  Cooper,  relict  of  Garret  De  Garmo,  who  de¬ 
parted  this  life  June  30,  1818,  aged  39  years,  9  months, 
and  9  days. 

Benjamin,  son  of  Garret  and  Cornelia  De  Garmo,  who 
departed  this  life  April  25,  1807. 

In  memory  of  John  Ludlow,  son  of  Joseph  and  Eliza  De 
Hart,  who  died  January  3,  1832. 

In  memory  of  Clinton  and  Milton,  sons  of  Joseph  and 
Eliza  De  Hart.  Clinton  died  July  9th,  1824;  Milton 
died  May  6,  1829. 

Simeon  DeGroiF,  who  died  March  31st,  1842,  in  the  S6tli 
year  of  his  age. 

Maria  Denniston,  born  November  11,  1753,  died  April 

28,  1841,  aged  87  years,  5  months  and  18  days. 

Henrietta,  daughter  of  William  and  Catharine  Dennis¬ 
ton,  died  March  19,  1844,  aged  6  years  and  5  months. 

Elizabeth  De  Witt,  the  wife  of  Simeon  De  Witt.  She 
was  born  the  3d  January,  1767,  and  died  the  13th 
December,  1793. 

Derkcy  De  Witt,  daughter  of  Jacob  Van  Loon,  and  wife 
of  Ephraim  De  Witt,  who  departed  this  life  on  Sun¬ 
day,  the  8th  day  of  July,  1810,  aged  25  years  and  9 
months. 

In  memory  of  Catlina,  daughter  of  Ephraim  and  Derkey 
De  Witt,  who  died  1 3th  June,  1810,  aged  1  month  and 
1  day. 

Andrew  A.  De  Witt.  He  was  born  in  Wawrasing,  in  the 
county  of  LTlster,  March  27,  1764,  died  at  Albany,  July 

29,  1835. 


144  Ref.  Prot.  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions. 

Catharine  and  Henry,  infant  children  of  Andrew  H.  and 
Mary  De  Witt,  born  March  18,  1827.  Henry  died 
March  18,  1827;  Catharine,  July  12,  1827, 

In  memory  of  Henry,  son  of  Andrew  H.  and  Mary  De 
Witt,  who  died  September  2,  1824,  aged  l  year  and  15 
days. 

Sacred  to  the  memory  of  Ephraim  Henry,  son  of  Ephm. 
and  Mary  De  Witt,  born  May,  1812,  died  September  4, 

1817. 

Rosanna,  daughter  of  J.  V.  L.  and  Mary  De  Witt,  died 
August  3,  1832,  aged  1  year  and  2  months.  Also, 
their  son  Ephraim  Henry,  died  March  24,  1834,  aged 
5  months. 

David  Deyo,  died  September  7,  1847,  aged  55  years. 
Also,  his  wile  Fanny  Deyo,  died  August  11,  1847, 
aged  53  years. 

In  hope  of  Eternity. 

Mary,  daughter  of  the  Rev.  John  and  Sarah  De  Witt, 
born  xxvi  April,  mdcccxvi,  died  viii  April,  mdcccxviii, 
aged  1  year,  11  months  and  13  days. 

Gather  the  children  and  those  that  suck  the  breasts. 

Joel  R.  Dickerman,  died  July  22,  1848,  aged  35  y..  8  m, 
Benjamin  Rriaire,  died  July  15,  1846,  aged  2  years  and 
1  month.  George  W.  Hulas,  died  January  6,  1846, 
aged  3  years  and  2  months. 

There  is  another  little  hand 
To  Heaven’s  harp  strings  given. 

Another  gentle  seraph’s  voice 
Another  star  in  Heaven. 

Sons  of  J.  R.  Dickerman. 

John  Wandell  son  of  Thomas  and  Margaret  Diamond,  who 

departed  this  life  January  31,  1854,  aged  1  year,  7 

months  and  23  davs. 

%/ 

So  fades  the  lovely  blooming  flower 
Sweet  smiling  solace  of  an  hour, 

So  swift  our  transient  comforts  fly, 

And  pleasures  only  bloom  to  die. 

William  Disney,  died  June  26,  1842,  aged  22  years.  Also 
William,  Jr.,  son  of  John  and  Ann  Disney,  died  Sept. 
1845,  aged  one  year  and  6  months. 

Charles  Edward,  son  of  Perry  and  Harriet  Dix,  died 
Dec.  20,  1835,  aged  1  year,  1  month  and  20  days. 


Ref.  Prof.  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions.  145 

Sarah  Smith,  eldest  daughter  of  Perry  and  Harriet  Dix. 
born  Oct.  1836,  died  April  1851. 

Sarah  Jane  Orr,  wife  of  Thomas  H.  Dobbs,  who  died 
Dec.  27,  1840,  in  the  40th  year  of  her  age. 

Great  God  of  justice,  to  thee  will  we  kneel, 

Yet  still  each  kindred  heart  must  bleeding  feel, 

But  while  the  fond  convulsive  sobs  arise, 

Hope  brings  her  balm  and  points  us  to  the  skies. 

Mary  B.  Douglas,  who  died  Sept.  20,  1841,  aged  22  years, 
10  months  and  24  days. 

Deborah,  wife  of  John  D.  P.  Douw  and  daughter  of  John 
Jas.  Beeckman,  Esq.  who  departed  this  life  July  23, 
1791,  aged  27  years,  7  months  and  27  days. 

Rachel  Douw  died  December  23,  1838,  aged  63  years,  6 
months  and  28  days.  Volkert  Douw,  died  Nov.  1,  1813, 
aged  35  years  and  10  months. 

Peter  P.  Dox,  who  departed  this  life  the  21st  day  of  Nov. 
1815,  aged  50  years,  1  month  and  24  days. 

Alida,  daughter  of  Elijah  and  Mary  Alida  Dygert,  died 
Jan.  30,  1841,  aged  1  year  and  4  days. 

A  flower  lent, 

But  not  given 
To  die  on  earth 
And  bloom  in  Heaven. 

Eliza,  wife  of  Daniel  Duesler,  died  Jan.  3,  1842,  aged 
26  years,  3  months  and  23  days. 

Elizabeth,  wife  of  Robert  W.  Dunbar,  died  June  27,  1846 
aged  72  years. 

Anna  Bradshaw,  daughter  of  Robert  W.  and  Elizabeth 
Dunbar,  died  Dec.  14,  1841,  aged  41  years. 

William  Dunbar  who  died  July  10,  1825,  aged  81  years, 
1  month  and  22  days. 

Elizabeth  wife  of  Wm.  Dunbar,  who  died  June  4,  1822, 
aged  73  years,  5  months  and  13  days. 

Aaron  Dunbar,  son  of  William  and  Elizabeth  Dunbar, 
was  born  Nov.  6,  1788,  and  died  April  4,  1806,  aged  28 
years,  4  months  and  28  days. 

Fanny,  consort  of  Richard  Dusenberry,  who  departed 
this  life  Nov.  2,  aged  47  years,  5  months  and  11  days 

Capt.  Richard  Dusenberry,  a  patriot  of  the  American  Rev-* 


146  Ref.  Prot.  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions. 

olution,  who  departed  this  life  Oct.  8,  1830,  aged  71 
years,  1  month  and  9  days. 

The  great,  the  wise,  the  dreadful  God. 

Hath  snatched  our  dearest  friends  away, 

Not  all  their  riches  could  procure 
Their  souls  a  short  reprieve, 

Nor  save  from  death  one  guilty  hour, 

Or  let  our  cheerful  parents  live. 

Also  their  3  infant  children. 

Blessed  are  the  dead  that  die  in  the  Lord,  Rev.  xiv  chap.  13  verse. 

Eliza  Ann  Dusertberry,  daughter  of  Richard  and  Fanny 
Dusenherry,  who  departed  this  life  July  31,  1801,  aged 
10  months  and  20  days. 

Sleep  on  sweet  babe 
And  take  thy  rest, 

Thou  art  early  called 
God’s  time’s  the  best. 

James,  the  son  of  Jarves  and  Elizabeth  Dusenberry,  who 
departed  this  life  Sept.  23,  1805,  aged  17  years. 

Go  home  my  friends  and  cease  your  tears, 

I  must  lie  here  till  Christ  appears, 

Repent  in  time  while  time  you  have, 

There’s  no  repentance  in  the  grave. 

Little  Eddy,  died  July  10.  1849. 

Anthony  Egbert,  who  departed  (his  life  Jan.  23,  1833, 
aged  80  years. 

Elizabeth  Leonard,  wife  of  John  R.  Elmendorf,  died  Jan. 
10,  1851,  in  the  38th  year  of  her  age. 

Rebecca  Kidney,  wife  of  James  Elliot,  who  departed 
this  life  Feb.  18,  1809,  aged  85  years,  9  months  and  13 
days. 

Afflictions  sore  some  time  she  bore, 

Physician’s  art  was  vain, 

Till  God  did  please  that  death  should  seize, 

To  ease  her  from  her  pain. 

She  died  in  hope  of  a  glorious  resurrection. 

Catharine  Young,  wife  of  Solomon  Enders,  who  departed 
this  life  Oct.  14,  1815,  aged  19  years,  2  months  and  14 
days. 

In  memory  of  William,  son  of  Bernardus  and  Martena 
Evertsen,  who  died  18th  Jan.  1798,  aged  19  years,  11 
months  and  6  days.  Also  Angelina  their  daughter, 
22d  March,  1799,  aged  9  years,  7  months  and  22  days. 


Ref.  Prof.  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions.  147 

In  memory  of  Bernardus  Evertsen,  who  departed  this 
life  Jan.  24,  1802,  aged  54  years,  2  months  and  22 
days. 

In  memory  of  Martena,  widow  of  Bernardus  Evertsen, 
who  departed  this  life  May  the  8th,  1807,  aged  57  years, 
7  months  and  4  days. 

Jacob,  son  of  Bernardus  and  Martena,  who  died  18th  June 
1800,  aged  15  years,  10  months,  28  days. 

Sarah,  consort  of  John  Evertsen,  and  daughter  of  Chris¬ 
topher  and  Sarah  Lansing  who  departed  this  life  Aug. 
10,  1807,  aged  23  years,  1  mo.  and  28  days. 

Alida  Evertsen,  who  departed  this  life  on  the  9th  day  of 
July,  1829,  aged  51  years,  5  months  and  1  day. 

Go  home,  dear  friends,  dry  up  your  tears, 

I  must  lie  here  till  Christ  appears, 

Repent!  repent!  while  time  you  have, 

There’s  no  repentance  in  the  grave. 

Alida  Evertsen,  daughter  of  John  and  Alida  Evertsen, 
who  died  March  19,  1818,  aged  2  years,  4  months  and 
19  days. 

Sleep  on,  sweet  babe,  and  take  your  rest, 

For  God  hath  done  as  he  thought  best. 

John  Evertsen,  died  Nov.  17,  1832,  in  the  53d  year  of  his 
age. 

Henry  Evertsen,  who  departed  this  life  July  9,  aged  53 
years,  3  months  and  6  days. 

John  Evertsen,  who  departed  this  life  July  5,  1834,  in 
the  45th  year  of  his  age. 

Jacob  Evertsen,  who  departed  this  life  July  12,  1829, 
aged  62  years,  11  months  and  23  days. 

Maria,  wife  of  Levi  Ewing  died  July  12,  1847,  in  the  47th 
year  of  her  age.  The  faithful  wife,  affectionate  mo¬ 
ther,  and  patient  Christian. 

William  James,  son  of  Levi  and  Maria  Ewing  died  Sept. 
5th,  1844,  aged  11  months,  and  19  days. 

Suffer  little  children  to  come  unto  me. 

Alexander  Findley,  who  died  Feb.  2,  1837,  aged  51  years. 

A  native  of  Perthshire,  Scotland. 

Hiram  Fitch,  who  died  Sept.  15,  1838,  aged  34  years,  2 
months  and  13  days. 

Seek  ye  the  Lord  while  he  may  be  found-,  call  upon  him  while  he 
is  near. 


143  Ref.  Prot.  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions. 

Lydia,  wife  of  Simeon  Fitch,  died  July  8,  1838,  in  the  61st 
year  of  her  age. 

In  memory  of  Anna  Fay,  wife  of  John  Fay,  Jr.,  daughter 
of  John  Bogart  Esq.,  who  died  July  8,  1822,  aged  37 
years  and  6  mos. 

Husband,  farewell,  my  life  is  past, 

My  love  to  you  till  death  did  last, 

For  my  decease  no  sorrow  take, 

But  love  our  offspring  for  my  sake. 

Your  loss  I  trust  tho’  fraught  with  pain, 

Will  prove  my  everlasting  gain. 

Rachel  Vandusen,  wife  of  Edward  L.  Foos,  who  depart¬ 
ed  this  life  the  27th  of  May  1841,  aged  27  years,  5  mos. 
and  17  days. 

She  will  do  him  good  and  not  evil  all  the  days  of  her  life. 

Elizabeth  Cooper,  wife  of  Edward  L.  Foos,  who  depart¬ 
ed  this  life  the  19th  day  of  March,  1848,  aged  44  years, 
10  months  and  29  days. 

She  looketh  well  to  the  ways  of  her  household  and  eateth  not 

the  biead  of  idleness. 

A  promoter  of  love,  virtue  and  temperance. 

David  Fonda,  who  departed  this  life  August  S,  A.  D. 
1805,  aged  48  years,  6  months,  22  days. 

Douw  Fonda,  died  May  17,  1833,  aged  74  years,  1  mo, 
and  9  days. 

Matilda  Beeckman,  wife  of  Douw  Fonda.  Born  Nov.  21, 
1768,  died  3d  Oct,  1837. 

George  Fonda,  who,  on  the  12th,  1834,  was  removed  by 
death  from  the  midst  of  a  large  circle  of  friends  and 
a  most  interesting  field  of  Christian  influence,  in  the  23d 
year  of  his  age. 

His  labor’s  done-,  this  little  dust, 

Our  father’s  care  shall  keep. 

Till  the  last  angel  rise  and  break 
The  long  and  dreary  sleep 

Nicholas  Fonda,  son  of  Gysbert  and  Elise  Fonda,  who 
departed  this  life  on  the  27th  day  of  Feb.  1797,  aged  27 
years,  4  mos.  and  28  days. 

Magdalen  Fonda,  died  Feb.  20,  1838  in  the  41st  year  of 
her  age. 

Sacred  to  the  memory  of 

Phebe,  wife  of  Capt.  Eliakim  Ford, 

who  departed  this  life  Sept.  17,  1834,  aged  45  years  and 
3  months. 


Ref.  Prot.  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions.  149 

Oh  weep  for  her  ye  friends  and  relations, 

Her  free  happy  spirit  is  roaming  in  bliss, 

And  blest  in  that  world  where  there  is  no  trouble 
She  forgets  all  her  sorrows  and  anguish  of  this, 

Shed  not  o’er  her  grave  the  tear  of  despondence, 

For  faith  lends  a  ray  to  illumine  the  scene, 

It  dispels  the  dark  clouds  which  o’ershadow  the  prospect, 
And  tells  of  a  land  where  no  clouds  intervene. 

Then  give  from  your  eye  the  sad  tear  of  affection, 

Sigh  not  that  her  spirit  is  free  from  its  load, 

Oh  rather  rejoice  that  the  flower  that  you  cherish, 

Is  planted  forever  in  the  garden  of  God. 

In  memory  of  Capt.  Eliakim  Ford,  who  departed  this 
life  the  28th  Oct.  1845,  in  the  60th  year  of  his  age. 

By  nature’s  blasts  and  ocean  travels, 

I  was  tossed  to  and  fro, 

Now  wrell  escaped  from  all  their  rage 
I  am  anchored  here  below-, 

Safely  I  hide  in  triumph  here, 

With  many  of  our  fleet, 

Till  signal  calls  to  weigh  again. 

Our  admiral  Christ  to  meet. 

Composed  by  his  friend  Whipple. 

William  Alexander,  son  of  Eliakim  and  Jane  Ford,  Jr., 
who  departed  this  life  the  26th  July,  1844,  aged  19 
months. 

Mary  Forsey,  who  departed  this  life  September  the  10th, 
1792,  aged  55  years,  9  mos.  and  4  days. 

Catlina  wife  of  Chandler  Foster,  died  March  12,  1842, 
aged  28  years,  8  months  and  12  days. 

M.  Fryer,  died  April  13,  1842,  aged  19  years. 

Harme  Gansevoort,  of  the  city  of  Albany,  merchant,  who 
died  on  the  7th  of  March,  1 80 1 ,  aged  88  y.  7  mo.  17  d. 
And  Magdalene  his  wife,  who  died  on  the  12th  of 
October,  1796,  aged  78  years  and  2  mo. 

In  memory  of  Anna  Gansevoort,  relict  of  C.  D. 
Wyncoop,  who  died  Aug.  9,  1794,  aged  49  years,  10 
months  and  3  days. 

Catharine  Gansevoort,  who  departed  this  life  April  14, 

.  1802,  aged  42  years. 

Earth  I  wind  no  more  about  her  breast, 

She  thought  it  far  better  to  depart. 

Leonard  P.  Gansevoort,  who  departed  this  life  Nov.  20, 
1803,  aged  35  years. 


150  Ref.  Prot.  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions. 

Doctor  Peter  Gansevoort,  who  died  on  the  19th  March, 
1809,  aged  84  years. 

Peter  Gansevoort,  a  brigadier  general  in  the  army  of  the 
United  States,  who  died  on  the  2d  day  of  July,  1812, 
aged  62  years,  11  months  and  16  days. 

Conrad  Gansevoort,  died  Aug.  9,  1829,  aged  68  years,  5 
months. 

Elsie  Gansevoort,  departed  this  life  14th  day  of  May,  1824, 
aged  60  years. 

Peter  C.  Gansevoort,  died  June  7,  1829,  aged  84  years, 
11  months. 

Henry  Gansevoort,  died  May  30,  1831,  aged  30  years,  5 
months. 

Maria  Gansevoort,  died  August  1,  1841,  aged  89  years. 
8  months. 

Julia,  daughter  of  John  and  Jane  Garnsey,  died  Dec.  25, 
1830,  aged  1  y.  5  m.  and  3  days. 

Amelia  Alelia,  daughter  of  John  and  Jane  Garnsey,  died 
July  9,  1825,  aged  5  months  and  9  days. 

John  Garnsey,  who  died  on  the  15th  of  March  1838,  aged 
41  years,  also  Jane  Cunningham,  wife  of  John  Garn¬ 
sey,  who  died  Feb.  2,  1838,  aged  38  years. 

The  sweet  remembrance  of  the  just 
Shall  flourish  while  they  sleep  in  dust, 

John  Garnsey,  who  died  August  8,  1837,  aged  12  years, 
also  Jane  Elizabeth  Garnsey,  who  died  April  19,  1835, 
aged  2  years  and  4  months. 

Sacred  to  the  memory  of  John  Gates,  who  departed  this 
life  Sept.  9,  A.  D,  1825,  aged  75  years,  10  months  and 
6  days. 

The  righteous  shall  be  in  everlasting  remembrance. 

Joseph  Gates,  son  of  John  and  Gertrude  Gates,  who  de¬ 
parted  this  life  Jan.  24,  1810,  aged  27  years,  3  months 
and  12  days. 

David  Groesbeck,  who  was  born  August  25,  1728,  and 
died  March  30,  1795. 

Cathalena  Groesbeck,  daughter  of  David  I.  and  Harriet 
Groesbeck,  who  died  Sept  25,  1807,  aged  6  months  and 
14  days. 

John  Groesbeck,  first  son  of  David  I.  and  Harriet  Groes¬ 
beck,  who  departed  this  life  Aug.  16,  1800,  aged  11 
months  and  29  days. 


Ref.  Prot.  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions .  151 

John  Groesbeck  2d  son  of  David  I.  and  Harriet  Groes- 
beck,  who  died  January  31,  1804,  aged  2  years,  11 
months  and  27  days. 

William,  son  of  Abraham  Groesbeeck  and  Eliza  Alexan¬ 
der,  who  died  Jan.  9,  1814,  aged  2  months,  12  days. 

Anthony  Groesbeck,  who  departed  this  life  June  1 1,  1812, 
63  years,  11  months  and  17  days. 

“  There  is  rest  in  heaven.” 

Catalina  Groesbeck,  daughter  of  David  I.  and  Harriet 
Groesbeck,  who  died  Sept.  23,  1806,  aged  1  year,  3 
months  and  14  days. 

William  Groesbeeck,  who  departed  this  life,  July  6,  1802, 
aged  49  years  and  19  days. 

Elizabeth  Burton,  wife  of  David  W.  Groesbeeck,  died 
Sept.  29,  1804,  aged  30  years  and  22  days. 

Ann  Willett,  wife  of  David  W.  Groesbeeck,  died  May  6, 
1810,  aged  33  years,  2  months  and  27  days. 

Cathalina  Groesbeck,  widow  of  the  late  Anthony  Groes¬ 
beck,  who  departed  this  life  June  28,  1813,  aged  62 
years,  six  months  and  27  days. 

Go  home,  dear  friend,  and  dry  your  tears, 

I  must  lie  here  till  Christ  appears, 

Repent  in  time  while  time  you  have, 

There’s  no  repentance  in  the  grave. 

John  I.  Groesbeck.' 

Maria  Groesbeck. 

Eliza,  daughter  of  David  W.  Groesbeeck  and  Ann  Willett, 
who  departed  this  life  May  26,  1833,  aged  22  years, 
7  months,  and  11  days,  also  William  Gilbert,  son  of 
David  W.  and  Lucy  G.  Groesbeeck,  wrho  departed  this 
life  July  5,  1840,  aged  9  years,  6  months  and  6  days. 

Lucretia,  daughter  of  William  W.  and  Eliza  C.  Groes¬ 
beeck,  died  9th  of  June  1833,  aged  8  years,  4  mo.  and 
26  days. 

The  loveliest  flower  in  nature’s  garden  placed, 

Permitted  just  to  bloom  then  plucked  in  haste, 

Angels  beheld  her  ripe  for  joys  to  come, 

And  took  by  God’s  command  their  sister  home. 

Henry  Heymer,  born  Jan.  28,  1843,  died  Jan.  28,  1845,. 

[ Annals ,  vi.]  14 


152  Ref.  Prot.  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions. 

also  Frederick  Augustus,  born  July  7,  1841,  died  Au¬ 
gust  10,  1841,  sons  of  Jacob  H.  and  Anna  M.  Groes- 
beck. 

Rachel  Deforest,  wife  of  John  A.  Goewey,  who  departed 
this  life  May  11,  1820,  aged  50  years,  4  mos.,  18  days. 

John  A.  Goewey,  who  departed  this  life  June  125,  1828, 
aged  56  years,  one  month  and  28  days. 

Jeremiah  C.,  son  of  Ephriam  P.  and  Maria  Goodhue, 
who  departed  this  life  March  29th,  1830,  aged  10  mos. 
and  15  days. 

Hannah  Ross,  wife  of  James  Gourlay,  who  departed  this 
life  Dec.  17,  1797,  aged  18  years,  8  mos.  11  days. 

Hannah  Gourley,  who  departed  this  life,  August  23, 
1798,  aged  54  years,  4  months. 

George  Gosman,  died  July  23,  1841,  aged  18  years  and 
1  month. 

Remember  now  thy  Creator  in  the  days  of  thy  youth. 

In  memory  of  John  Graham. 

Stephen  Grange,  son  of  Jas.  and  Mary  Grange,  who  de¬ 
parted  this  life  Sept.  25,  1813,  aged  4  yrs.,  11  months 
and  10  days. 

Margaret  Graves,  died  June  30,  1846,  aged  34  years  and 
li  months,  also  Richard  Graves,  died  July  15,  1848, 
aged  48  years. 

Clara  Louisa,  only  child  of  Mrs.  Eliza  Gray,  died  Nov. 
27,  1825,  aged  4  years  and  7  months. 

Gone  is  the  flower,  sweet  bud  of  early  spring, 

By  ruthless  death’s  cold  finger  rudely  pressed, 

Yet  ah,  grim  tyrant,  pointless  is  thy  sting, 

It  fading  fell  to  ripen  with  the  blessed. 

Mourners,  to  you  this  cheering  hope  is  given, 

It  sunk  to  earth  to  freshly  bloom  in  heaven. 

Catharine,  wife  of  James  H.  Grovesteen,  who  died  April 
1,  1849,  aged  30  years,  7  months  and  13  days,  also 
Lydia  Maria,  daughter  of  James  H.  and  Catharine  Gro¬ 
vesteen  died  Aug.  8,  1840,  aged  2  months,  8  days. 

Elizabeth  De  Witt,  wife  of  Henry  Guest,  born  the  24th  of 
June  1769,  and  departed  this  life  the  23d  of  Jan.  1805. 

Jane  Ann  Guest,  daughter  of  Henry  and  Elizabeth  Guest, 
born  the  23d  Sept.  1802.  and  died  the  31st  Aug.  1809-. 


Ref.  Prot.  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions .  153 

William  E.,  son  of  Silas  and  Catharine  Hagadorn,  died 
March  14.  1853,  aged  4  years  and  24  days. 

Elizabeth  Hagarty,  wife  of  William  Hagarty,  who  de¬ 
parted  this  life  Jan.  8,  1792,  aged  34  years,  7m. 

Hester  Handford,  wife  of  George  Handford,  who  died 
August  8,  1826,  aged  49  years,  8  months  and  3  days. 
Also  of  their  infant  son  Joseph  R.  Van  Zandt  Hand¬ 
ford,  who  died  Jan’y  23,  1826,  aged  4  years,  and  3 
months. 

Isaac  Hansen,  who  departed  this  life  on  the  4th  day  of 
March,  1818,  aged  40  years,  2  months  and  26  days. 

The  sweet  remembrance  of  the  just, 

Shall  flourish  when  they  sleep  in  dust. 

Blessed  are  the  dead  who  die  in  the  Lord. 

Gertrude  Hansen,  daughter  of  Isaac  and  Jane  Hansen, 
who  died  April  28,  1808,  aged  2  years,  8  mos.  and  13 
days, 

Gertrude  Hansen,  second  daughter  of  Isaac  and  Jane 
Hansen,  who  died  July  27,  aged  2  mos.  and  21  days. 

Obadiah  Cooper  Hansen,  son  of  Issac  and  Jane  Hansen, 
who  died  Dec.  18,  1809,  aged  2  years,  5  months  and  27 
days. 

In  memory  of  Jane  Hansen,  wife  of  Isaac  Hansen,  de¬ 
parted  this  life  Jan.  19,  1815,  aged  33  years,  4  months 
and  19  days. 

Sarah  Ann  Watts,  wife  of  J.  W.  Harcourt,  who  died  April 
20,  1847,  in  the  27th  year  of  her  age. 

A  loving  wife,  a  mother  dear, 

A  faithful  friend  lies  buried  h^re. 

In  love  she  lived  in  peace  she  died, 

Her  life  was  craved,  but  God  denied. 

Alanson  St.  John,  son  of  J.  W.  and  S.  A.  Harcourt,  died 
Sept  11,  1843,  aged  14  months  and  5  days. 

A  beauteous  flower  nipt  by  death, 

Oh  no,  upborne  to  milder-skies, 

Where  no  rude  wind  with  icy  breath, 

Shall  blight  this  flower  of  paradise. 

Sarah  Ann  Harcourt,  who  died  July  7,  1845,  in  the  20th 
year  of  her  age. 

Tn  life  beloved,  in  death  forever  dear, 

O  friend,  O  sister,  take  this  parting  tear. 


154  Ref.  Prof.  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions. 

The  Hon.  Herman  M.  Hardenburgh,  member  of  Assem¬ 
bly  from  Sullivan  county,  born  May  19,  1779,  depart¬ 
ed  this  life  March  22,  1830. 

Martha,  daughter  of  Wm.  and  Margaret  Harrison,  who 
departed  this  life  Jan.  28,  1837,  aged  3  years,  6  months. 

Tho’  young 

Her  claim  on  God  was  great, 

H^r  mind  extended  high, 

Her  words  were,  God  my  Saviour, 

In  thee  I  live  and  die. 

'Catharine  Louisa,  daughter  of  George  Adam  and  Eliza¬ 
beth  Hartmann,  died  April  11,  1846,  aged  1  year,  8  m. 

Nancy  Hasbrouck,  wife  of  Peter  Hasbrouck,  who  died 
March  16,  1828,  in  the  42d  year  of  her  age. 

Jtachel,  wife  of  Matthias  Hawes,  who  died  June  23,  1821, 
in  the  42d  year  of  her  age. 

Martin  Hebeysen,  a  native  of  Zuettlingen  in  Germany. 
He  departed  this  life  on  the  19th  of  June,  A.  D.  1827, 
at  the  age  of  88  years,  7  months  and  8  days,  anticipat¬ 
ing  with  Christian  hope  the  coming  of  the  Lord. 

Adam  Helmer,  who  departed  this  life  May  7,  1844,  aged 
71  years,  10  months  and  28  days. 

Sally  Ann,  wife  of  James  A.  Hewson  and  daughter  of 
David  W.  Groesbeeck  and  Anna  Willett  who  departed 
this  life  March  16,  1842,  in  the  34th  year  of  her  age. 
Also  Lydia,  relict  of  the  late  Peter  Van^Dusen,  who  de¬ 
parted  this  life  April  26,  1832,  in  the  70th  year  of  her 
age. 

Ann  Plewson,  wife  of  Samuel  Harbeck,  who  departed 
t  his  life  Sept.  12,  1823,  aged  36  years  and  15  days. 

Patience  and  order  adorned  her  mind, 

Her  lips  were  lade,  her  carriage  mild, 

Patient  and  meek,  to  Heaven  resigned, 

She  died  in  hope  of  joy  above. 

Hier  ruhe  der  kleine'engel  Catrina  Hetinger  ist  Geboren 
den  5  September  1840  und  gestorben  den  5  September 

1841. 

Hier  ruhe  die  asche. 

Silas  Brooks,  son  of  Hamlet  H.  and  Hannah  M.  Hickcox, 
died  July  15,  1837,  aged  11  years  and  4  days. 

Elizabeth  Hilton,  daughter  of  Simon  V.  A.  and  Cathe- 


\ 


Ref.  Prot.  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions .  155 

rine  Hilton,  who  died  April  6,  1837,  aged  5  years  and 

3  months. 

William  Hilton,  who  died  April  15,  1832,  aged  22  years, 
7  months  and  5  days. 

Till  Christ  shall  come  to  rise  the  slumbering  dead, 

Farewell,  pale,  lifeless  clay,  a  long  farewell: 

Sweet  be  your  sleep  and  peaceful  rest  thy  head, 

Where  we  have  laid  thee  in  thy  lonely  grave. 

William  I.  Hilton,  who  died  June  19,  1825,  aged  94 
years. 

Catherine  Hanson,  wife  of  Jonathan  Hilton,  who  died 
Dec.  16,  1838,  aged  85  years,  1  month  and  22  days. 
Joseph  Hill,  son  of  Seth  and  Cynthia  Hill,  of  Weston,  Ct. 

who  died  Aug  20,  1832,  IE  33  years,  6  mo.  and  1  day. 
Rachel,  daughter  of  Granvill  and  Catharine  Hockridge,. 
who  died  June  17,  1826. 

Abraham  Hooghkirk,  who  departed  this  life  May  12,  1807,. 
aged  63  years,  6  months  and  26  days,  also  his  sons: 
Abraham,  died  Sept.  9,  1801,  aged  19  years,  10  months 
and  21  days;  William,  died  April  26,  1805,  aged  18 
years,  2  months  and  4  days. 

Within  this  little  space  of  ground, 

The  father  and  two  sons  are  found  t 
We  hope  in  Heaven  they  do  rest, 

And  by  our  Saviour  they  are  blest. 

In  memory  of  Susannah,  daughter  of  Lucas  and  Mary 
Hooghkirk,  who  departed  this  life  Sept.  28,  1808,  aged 

4  years,  9  mos.  and  19  days. 

Isaac  Hooghkirk*  who  departed  this  life,  Sept.  12,  1809, 
aged  72  years,  5  mos.  and  22  days. 

Blessed  are  the  dead  who  die  in  the  Lord. 

Sacred  to  the  memory  of  Arthur  Hotchkiss  who  departed 
this  life  July  25,  1826,  in  the  53d  year  of  his  age. 
William,  son  of  Jotliam  and  Amy  Holmes,  died  Jan’y  25, 
1830,  aged  17  years. 

Jotham  Holmes,  died  Sept.  1838,  aged  72  years. 
Elizabeth,  wife  of  David  Holt,  died  Sept.  10,  1845,  aged 
65,  in  perfect  peace. 

Beneath  this  stone  were  deposited,  the  remains  of  Arme¬ 
nia  Hoyt,  daughter  of  Gould  and  Sarah  Hoyt,  who 
died  April  22,  1817,  aged  18  years,  9  months  and  2 
ays. 


156  Ref.  Trot.  .Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions. 

Beneath  this  stone  were  deposited  the  remains  of  Ma¬ 
ria  Hoyt,  daughter  of  Gould  and  Sarah  Hoyt,  who  died 
Dec.  19,  1819,  aged  25  years,  4  months  and  14  days. 

This  stone  performs  the  sacred  office  of  telling  where 
were  deposited  the  remains  of  Sarah  Reed,  wife  of 
Gould  Hoyt,  who  died  July  18,  1819,  at  the  age  of  49 
years,  8  months  and  21  days. 

Mary,  daughter  of  William  and  Magdelin  Humphrey, 
who  died  June  14,  1826,  aged  1  year,  9  months,  and 
24  days. 

In  memory  of  Catherine  Snyder,  wife  of  Paul  Hochstras- 
ser,  who  died  September  2,  1817,  aged  47  years  and  5 
months. 

Henry  Hyer,  who  departed  this  life  Sept.  15,  1802,  aged 
23  years,  2  mos.  and  2  days. 

Mary,  widow  of  Henry  Hyer,  who  departed  this  life  Sept. 
24,  1831,  aged  51  years  and  9  months. 

But  there  is  that  which  shall  awake, 

E’en  from  the  grave’s  unconscious  dawning, 

A  light  of  glory  which  shall  break, 

This  gloom  with  everlasting  beaming. 

In  memory  of  Magdelin,  wife  of  William  Humphrey,  who 
departed  on  the  27th  of  August,  1832,  aged  34  years,  1 
month  and  2  days,  also  their  infant. 

Happy  spirit!  ye  are  fled, 

Where  no  pain  can  entrance  find, 

Lull’d  to  rest  thy  aching  head, 

In  the  bosom  of  thy  Gx)d. 

Robert  Henry,  who  departed  this  life  May  14th,  1828,  in 
the  35th  year  of  his  age. 

Afflictions  sore  iong  time  I.  bore, 

Physicians  were  in  vain, 

Till  God  did  please  to  give  me  ease 
And  free  me  from  my  pain. 

Sacred  to  the  memory  of  a  fond  and  affectionate  husband 
and  kind  parent,  who  died  of  consumption  Feb.  7,  1847, 
aged  25  years  and  10  mo. 

Father,  thy  will  be  done. 

J.  W.  Jackson,  born  in  Waring! on,  Lancashire  Co.  Eng¬ 
land,  October  18,  1781.  died  February  24,  1848,  aged 
66  years,  7  months  and  24  days. 


Ref.  Prot.  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions.  157 

Peter  C.,  son  of  James  and  Elizabeth  Jackson,  died  July 
6,  1847,  aged  2  years  and  10  months. 

Ere  sin  could  blight  or  sorrow  fade, 

Death  came  with  friendly  care, 

The  opening  bud  to  heaven  conveyed, 

And  bade  it  blossom  there. 

John  W.  son  of  John  and  Ann  Jackson,  born  Feb.  18, 
1810,  drowned  at  Coxsackie,  June  10,  1844. 

Danger  stands  thick  through  all  the  ground, 

To  push  us  to  the  tomb, 

And  fierce  diseases  wait  around, 

To  hurry  mortals  home. 

In  midst  of  life  we  are  in  death. 

Margaret  Chambers,  wife  of  Henry  L.  Jewell,  born  June  4, 
1810,  died  Jan.  7,  1853. 

Joseph  Jewell,  son  of  J.  P.  and  Margaret  Jewell,  who 
died  Jan.  28,  1819,  aged  2  years,  10  months  and  28 
days,  also  Maria  Jewell,  who  died  March  6,  1819,  aged 
10  months  and  1 1  days. 

Margaret  Thompson,  wife  of  Jeremiah  P.  Jewell,  who 
died  Dec.  10,  1840,  aged  49  years,  7  mos.  and  5  days. 

Susan  Johnson,  daughter  of  John  and  Elizabeth  Johnson, 
who  departed  this  life  Nov.  15,  1817,  aged  5  years,  9 
months  and  7  days,  also  Hetty  Maria  Johnson,  daugh¬ 
ter  of  John  and  Elizabeth  Johnson,  who  departed  this 
life  Dec.  1,  1817. 

Wm.  Johnson,  son  of  John  and  Elizabeth  Johnson,  who 
was  drowned  on  the  16th  day  of  June,  1827,  aged  7 
years,  7  mo.  and  12  days. 

With  innocence  and  spotless  soul, 

I  wandered  to  the  river, 

Then  in  the  water  I  did  wade, 

.  And  lost  my  life  forever. 

In  memory  of  John  Bedford  Johnson,  who  died  Jan’y  13 
1825  aged  22  years,  7  months  and  13  days. 

Stay,  hasty  youth,  and  view  my  tomb, 

-Nor  vainly  boast  of  years  to  come, 

Your  bodies  made  of  brittle  clay, 

Will  quickly  fall  and  drop  away. 

What  though  I  died  in  blooming  prime, 

It  was  the  Lord’s  appointed  tittije. 


158  Ref.  Prot .  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions. 

John  Johnson,  who  died  May  4,  1829,  aged  52  years  and 
27  days,  also  Elizabeth,  his  wife,  who  died  Sept  22, 
1846,  in  the  69th  year  of  her  age. 

Sarah  Jones,  of  the  parish  of  Langellar,  Carmarthan- 
shire,  South  Wales,  who  died  May  7,  1826,  aged  63 
years.  Erected  by  Thomas  Morgan  as  a  tribute  of 
respect. 

In  memory  of  John  Jones,  who  departed  this  life  Sept. 
6,  1810,  aged  21  years  and  52  days. 

Having  tasted  prelibation  of  the  joys  of  Heaven,  and  magnified  the 

praises  of  redeeming  love,  he  triumphed  over  the  terrors  of  death  in 

the  hope  of  a  glorious  resurrection. 

Elizabeth,  wife  of  William  Kane,  who  departed  this  life 
Sept.  17,  1793,  in  the  50th  year  of  her  age. 

How  loved,  how  valued  once,  and  it  avails  me  not, 

To  whom  related  or  by  whom  begot. 

A  heap  of  dust  alone  remains  for  me, 

This  all  I  am  and  all  the  world  shall  be. 

Peter  Kane,  son  of  William  and  Elizabeth  Kane,  who 
departed  this  life  Augt.  23,  1805,  aged  17  years  and  4 
months. 

Stop,  traveler,  weep;  for  here  beneath  death’s  shade, 

Snatched  from  his  friends,  a  lovely  youth  is  laid, 

But  weep  in  hope,  for  soon  he’ll  burst  this  sod, 

And  rise  in  air  to  meet  his  Saviour  God. 

John  Kane,  son  of  William  and  Elizabeth  Kane,  who  de¬ 
parted  this  life  Aug.  15,  1837,  in  the  62d  year  of  his 
age. 

In  memory  of  Matilda,  daughter  of  Elias  and  Deborah 
Kane,  who  died  March  3,  1819,  aged  6  years,  3 
months  and  22  days. 

William  Kean,  who  departed  this  life  30th  day  of  August 
1819,  in  the  80th  year  of  his  age. 

My  flesh  still  slumbers  in  the  ground, 

Till  the  last  trumpet’s  joyful  sound, 

Then  burst  the  chains  with  sweet  surprise, 

And  in  my  Saviour’s  image  rise. 

Maria,  wife  of  W.  H.  Kearney,  and  daughter  of  the  late 
Sybrant  Kittle,  died  Nov.  14,  1846,  aged  35  years,  8 
months  and  5  days. 


Ref.  Prot.  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions .  159 

In  memory  of  Elizabeth  Linn  Keese,  daughter  of  Wil¬ 
liam  and  Rebecca  Keese,  of  the  city  of  New  York,  who 
died  on  the  16th  July,  1811,  aged  11  months. 

In  memory  of  Elizabeth  Kenyon,  wife  of  Moses  Kenyon, 
who  died  June  15,  1830,  aged  47  years  and  2  mos. 

Here  sleeps  the  wife  and  mother  in  the  silent  dust. 

By  all  our  sorrow  all  our  love  unmoved, 

Sleeps  till  the  solemn  summons  of  the  just, 

Bids  her  awake  to  meet  the  Go  1  she  loved. 

Jonathan  Kidney,  born  Dec.  11,  1760,  died  March  20, 
1849,  also  his  wife  Hannah  Kidney,  born  January  9, 
1764,  died  Dec.  30,  1833. 

Harriet  Kilbourn,  died  Jan.  17,  1838,  aged  4  years; 
Catharine  Kilbourn,  died  Feb.  16,  1838,  aged  7  years, 
6  mos.  Children  of  George  and  Catharine  Kilbourn. 

And  must  I  take  the  last  fond  look, 

And  say  the  last  farewell, 

Consign  my  precious  ones  to  earth, 

And  sound  their  funeral  knell? 

With  bursting  heart  I  yield  you  up, 

My  angel  children,  farewell. 

John  Kip,  of  the  city  of  New  York,  who  died  Feb.  27, 
1796,  aged  21  years  and  10  months  and  11  days. 

Stop,  traveler,  weep,  for  here  beneath  death’s  shade, 

Snatched  from  his  friends  a  lovely  youth  is  laid. 

But  weep  in  hope  for  soon  he’ll  burst  this  sod, 

And  rise  in  air  to  meet  his  Saviour  God. 

William  Henry,  son  of  Vincent  and  Phebe  King,  who 
died  Oct.  7,  1822,  aged  1  year,  8  months  and  17  days. 

Daniel  S.  Kittle,  died  Feb.  1,  1842,  aged  43  years,  10 
months  and  15  days. 

Clarissa  Ann,  wife  of  Daniel  S.  Kittle,  died  Dec.  16, 
1843,  aged  43  years,  4  mos.  and  16  days. 

Charles  E.,  son  of  Daniel  S.  and  Clarissa  Ann  Kittle, 
died  June  2,  1842,  aged  13  3'ears  and  6  months. 

Daniel  Van  Schaick,  son  of  Daniel  and  Clarissa  Ann  Kit¬ 
tle,  died  June  22,  1849,  in  the  18th  year  of  his  age. 

William  James,  son  of  Daniel  S.  and  Clarissa  Ann  Kit¬ 
tle,  died  Aug.  24,  1838,  aged  2  years  and  14  days. 

Charlotte  L.,  daughter  of  Daniel  S.  and  Clarissa  Ann  Kit¬ 
tle,  died  Feb.  24,  1842,  aged  1  year,  3  months,  10  days. 


160  Ref.  Prot.  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions. 

Catharine,  daughter  of  Daniel  S.  and  Clarissa  Ann  Kit¬ 
tle,  who  died  Sept.  28,  1829,  aged  2  years  and  6  days. 

John  H.  Kittle,  eldest  son  of  the  late  Daniel  S.  and  Cla¬ 
rissa  Ann  Kittle,  died  March  17,  1845,  aged  19  y.  2m. 

Sybrant  Kittle,  departed  this  life  March  1,  1844,  aged 
68  years,  2  months  and  4  days. 

Ann,  wife  of  Sybrant  Kittle,  who  departed  this  life  May 
19,  1830,  aged  51  years,  7  mos.  and  19  days. 

Weep  not  for  me,  my  children  dear, 

I  am  not  dead  but  sleeping  here, 

Repent  in  time,  what  time  you  have, 

There’s  no  repentance  in  the  grave. 

Farewell,  dear  husband,  my  life  is  past, 

Don’t  mourn  for  me  nor  sorrow  take, 

But  love  my  children  for  my  sake. 

Josiah  Kittle,  son  of  Malachi  and  Maria  Kittle,  of  Cana- 
joharie  Montgomery  county,  whc  died  July  13,  1832, 
aged  19  years,  4  months  and  23  days. 

In  memory  of  Adam  Kettle,  born  Sept.  21,  1813,  died 
June  17,  1837,  aged  23  years,  8  mo.,  26  days,  also  Ann, 
his  wife,  died  Jan.  15,  1836,  aged  19  years. 

To  the  memory  of  Charles  Kettle,  who  departed  this  life  • 
August  22,  1840,  aged  19  years,  9  months  and  10  days. 

Audley  P.  Knowers,  who  died  October  1,  1841,  in  the 
27th  year  of  his  age. 

The  sweet  remembrance  of  the  just, 

Shall  flourish  when  they  sleep  in  dust. 

Rustplatts  van  L.  H.  Koop,  geb.  Stubenrauch,  oud  22  jaar 
1  maand  en  2  dagen.  Geb.  6  October,  1828;  overl  8 
Nov.  1850.  L.  W.  Koop  eenige  doghter  Overleedene 
oud  3  jaar,  9  maand  en  1  Dag.  geb.  23  Octo.  1850;  Over. 
24  July,  1854. 

Albert  Koster,  geb.  den  29  Aug.  1846,  gest.  den  8  Juli 
1847,  alter  10  mon.  10  tage. 

Warum  weil4  euer  nassen  Auge 
Auf  disem  stein  und  diesem  Grab, 

Hebt  euren  blick  empor  zum  Himmel, 

Und  trocknen  eure  thranen  ab. 

Wo  ich  nun  bin  den  Engelen  glcich, 

Gelubte!  da  erwart  ich  euch. 

Annatie  Vissher,  wife  of  James  La  Grange,  who  depart¬ 
ed  this  life  Aug,  20,  1704,  aged  30  years. 


Ref.  Prof ,  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions.  161 

Alida,  daughter  of  James  and  Annatie  La  Grange,  who  de- 
parted  this  life  August  11, 1793,  aged  1  year,  10m.  28  d. 

Myndert,  son  of  James  and  Annatie  Lagrange,  who  de¬ 
parted  this  life  May  26,  1794  aged  11  months. 

James  La  Grange,  died  Feb.  16,  1827,  aged  64  years,  25  d. 

He  was  a  man  highly  respected  by  his  friends  and  acquaintances 

and  in  all  the  social  relations  of  a  husband  and  father  he  was  seldom 

exceeded. 

Arie  La  Grange,  who  was  born  Nov.  12,  1738,  and  de¬ 
parted  this  life  April  6,  1798. 

Maria  Van  Antwerp,  wife  of  Arie  La  Grange  deceased, 
who  departed  this  life  Feb.  6,  1801,  aged  58  years,  4 
months,  2  days. 

John  V.  S.  Lansing,  who  departed  this  life  the  30th  April 
1708,  aged  26  years,  11  mos.  and  10  days. 

Sarah  Van  Schayck,  born  Nov.  26,  1743,  wife  of  Chris. 
Lansing,  since  Jan.  26,  1766,  departed  April  23,  1788, 
aged  44  years,  4  mos.  and  28  days. 

In  memory  of  Christopher  Lansing,  who  died  Oct.  25, 
1819,  aged  76  years,  8  months  and  26  days. 

Here  lies  interred  the  body  of  Col.  Jacob  Lansing,  Jr.,  obt. 
Jan.  18,  1791,  aged  76  years. 

Catherine  Lansing,  wife  of  John  Lansing.  She  died  Octo¬ 
ber  27,  1799,  aged  61  years. 

Jacob  G.  Lansing,  who  died  Nov.  25,  1803,  aged  66  years, 
also  Frances,  wife  of  Jacob  G.  Lansing,  who  died 
March  26,  1807,  aged  50  years. 

Sander  I.  Lansing,  died  April  3,  1807,  in  his  84th  year. 

Thomas  Lansing,  who  departed  this  life  March  4,  181  1, 
aged  83  years,  5  mos.  and  2  days. 

Behold  and  see  as  you  pass  by, 

As  you  are  now  so  once  was  I. 

As  I  am  now  so  shall  you  be, 

Prepare  yourself  to  follow  me. 

James,  died  18th  March,  1838,  aged  2  years,  6  months 
and  24  days;  Elizabeth  Russ,  died  5th  April,  1838. 
aged  1  year  2  months,  14  days.  Son  and  daughter  of 
Christian  La  Grange  and  Gertrude  McClusky. 

Sleep  on,  sweet  babe,  and  take  thy  rest, 

For  God  has  done  as  he  thought  best. 


♦ 

? 


V 


162  Ref.  Prot.  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions . 

Jacob  Lansing,  Elizabeth  Lansing.  Placed  hereby  their 
sons. 

Henry  R.  Lansing,  who  died  August  9,  1819,  aged  81 
years  and  7  mo. 

In  memory  of  Cathrine  Douw,  mother  of  Abrm.  A.  Lan* 
singh,  who  departed  this  life  Feb.  2,  1798,  aged  79  y. 

Jacob  I.  Lansing,  who  departed  this  life  June  4,  1830,  in 
the  77th  year  of  his  age,  also  Susannah,  wife  of  Jacob  I. 
Lansing,  who  departed  this  life  April  25,  1817,  in  the 
61st  year  of  her  age. 

Elsie  Lansing,  daughter  of  Jacob  I.  Lansing,  born  July 
28,  1748,  departed  this  life  July  20,  1811,  aged  62 
years,  11  months  and  20  days. 

John  Jacob  Lansing,  who  departed  this  life  April  19, 
18)8,  aged  92  years,  3  months  and  19  days. 

In  memory  of  Catharine  Schuyler,  wife  of  John  Jacob  Lan¬ 
sing,  who  departed  this  life  March  31,  1797,  aged  73 
years  and  7  months. 

Charles,  son  of  Jacob  and  Jane  Lansing,  died  June  16, 
1849,  aged  15  years,  11  months  and  21  days.  An  af¬ 
fectionate  son  and  brother. 

In  memory  of  Helena,  wife  of  Jeremiah  Lansing,  who 
died  Oct.  11,  1829,  aged  38  years,  11  months,  20  days. 

Jane,  wife  of  Abraham  F.  Lansing,  who  departed  this 
life  June  18,  1826,  in  the  39th  year  of  her  age. 

Frances  L.,  daughter  of  Samuel  W.  and  Frances  R.  Larch- 
er,  who  departed  this  life  July  11,  1837,  aged  1  year 
4  mo.  and  1 1  days. 

Bevillo  Wells,  son  of  William  and  Elizabeth  Lathrop, 
who  died  May  5,  1828,  aged  2  years,  9  months  and  25 
days. 

Dear  little  one,  though  nursed  with  care, 

No  effort  could  detain  thee  here. 

Dennis,  son  of  Patrick  Laughrey  who  died  April  12, 
1803,  aged  3  years  and  10  months. 

Frances,  son  of  Francis  I.  and  Maria  Lay,  who  departed 
this  life  March  1,  1825. 

In  memory  of  Elizabeth  Smith,  and  Anna  Slingerland, 
children  of  Robert  S.  and  Anna  M.  Lay.  They  were 


Ref.  Prot.  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions.  163 

born  August  31,  1835,  Anna  S.  died  Sept.  10,  1835, 
aged  10  days.  Elizabeth  S.,  died  Nov.  19,  1836,  aged 
l  year,  2  raos.  and  13  days. 

George  Henry,  son  of  George  H.  and  Margaret  A. 
Lester,  born  Feb.  26,  1847,  died  Feb.  25,  1853,  aged 
6  years. 

Father,  mother,  both  adieu, 

My  sister,  I  must  part  with  you, 

My  Saviour  calls,  with  joy  I  go, 

And  leave  a  world  of  care  and  woe. 

Departed  this  life  on  the  21st  day  of  Nov.  1839,  Mary 
Talbert,  consort  of  James  F.  Linacre,  deceased,  aged 
30  years,  8  months  and  6  days. 

Our  loved  one  has  gone  to  the  mansion  above, 

Where  the  sorrows  of  earth  can  ne’er  come. 

And  oh,  may  we  live  in  such  confident  faith, 

As  to  meet  her  when  God  calls  us  home.  , 

In  memory  of  Phillip  Talbert,  son  of  James  F.  and  Ma¬ 
ry  Linacre,  departed  this  life  Jan.  22,  1836,  aged  5 
years,  9  mos.  and  7  days. 

In  memory  of  James  F.  Linacre,  who  died  Jan.  12,  in 
the  32d  year  of  his  age, 

The  sweet  remembrance  of  the  just, 

Shall  flourish  while  they  sleep  in  dust. 

Sacred  to  the  memory  of  Ann  B.  Lockerty,  wife  of  Wil¬ 
liam  C.  Lockerty  and  daughter  of  James  and  Mary 
Sickels,  who  died  Nov.  18,  1831,  aged  30  years. 

A  long  farewell,  my  partner  dear,  I  see  thee  low  no  more.  Those 
gentle  tones  are  hushed-,  in  vain  I  look  for  thee  at  my  return  at  eve; 
in  vain  thy  little  babes  call  on  the  name  of  mother.  We’ll  meet  thee,, 
dearest,  in  that  happy  land  where  sorrow  can  not  come;  in  those  bright 
spheres  naught  shall  divide  us  more. 

In  memory  of  Elizabeth  Lockerty,  who  departed  this  life 
Feb.  22,  1837,  in  the  77th  year  of  her  age. 

Charles  Lockrow,  who  departed  this  life  Jan.  4,  1838?. 
aged  68  years  and  17  days. 

This  monument  is  erected  as  a  memorial  of  that  affection  and  re¬ 
spect  due  to  the  best  of  fathers  from  his  son  Van  Bu'ren  Lockrow,. 
Nov.  1840. 

[  Annals ,  vi.]  15 


164  Ref.  Prot.  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions. 

Gitty  Eliza  Lockrow,  daughter  of  Thomas  and  Harriet 
Lockrow.  She  departed  this  life  August  25,  1818,  aged 
1  year,  6  months  and  12  days. 

Sleep  on,  dear  babe,  and  take  thy  rest, 

God  called  thee  home,  he  thought  it  best. 

AlvahM.  Lockwood,  died  Feb.  10,  1835,  in  the  24th  year 
of  his  age. 

James  E.  Lougee,  son  of  Noah  and  Maria  E.  Lougee,  died 
Feb.  16,  1821,  aged  1  year  and  18  days. 

Robert  Lottredge,  who  departed  this  life  Oct.  31st,  1848, 
in  the  75t.h  year  of  his  age. 

Afflictions  sore  long  time  I  bore, 

Physicians  were  in  vain, 

Till  God  did  please  to  give  me  ease 
And  free  me  from  my  pain. 

Gertrude  Lovell,  daughter  of  John  B.  and  Gertrude  Vis- 
scher,  who  died  June  12,-1831,  aged  27  yrs.  6  months 
and  6  days. 

Gicero  Loveridge,  died  Oct.  27,  1842,  aged  30  years. 

Self-educated  and  highly  gifted, 

Early  distinguished, 

As  well  in  his  profession  of  the  Law, 

As  an  accomplished  writer, 

And  an  eloquent  orator. 

His  many  friends, 

Mourning  in  his  untimely  death, 

The  blight  of  so  much  promise, 

Have  erected 

This  tribute  to  his  cherished  memoiy. 

Esteemed  and  beloved, 

For  his  generous  nature,  true  heart, 

Unswerving  faith, 

And  unsullied  integrity. 

;i  To  war  on  Fraud  entrenched  with  Power, 

On  smooth  pretence,  and  specious  wrong, 

This  task  was  his  in  life’s  brief  hour, 

For  this  he  banished  sky  and  song.” 

Jacob  Ludlow,  son  of  the  Rev.  John  and  Catalena  V.  S. 
Ludlow,  died  Augt.  11,  A.  D.  1824,  aged  10  months 
and  15  days.  „ 


Ref.  Proi.  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions.  165 

Alas,  how  changed  that  lovely  flower, 

Which  bloomed  and  cheered  my  breast. 

Fair  fleeting  comfort  of  an  hour. 

How  soon  we’re  all  to  part. 

James  Ludlow,  son  of  the  Rev.  John  and  Catalena  V.  S. 
Ludlow,  died  Dec.  16,  A.  D.  1825,  aged  2  years  and  2 
months. 

Nancy,  wife  of  Sylvester  Lyman,  died  Feb.  23,  1842, 
aged  64  years. 

Sylvester  Lyman,  died  May  20,  1839,  aged  63  years. 

Lucy  Ann  G.,  wife  of  Wm.  Lyman,  died  Nov.  8,  1845, 
aged  32  years. 

Mrs.  Elizabeth  Lyons,  wife  of  John  Lyons,  deceased,  and 
daughter  of  the  late  Sybrant  Kittle,  died  Jan.  31, 
1846,  aged  43  years,  6  months  and  10  days. 

Ann  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  John  and  Elizabeth  Lyons, 
died  July  5,  1874,  aged  19  years,  2  months  and  5  days. 

In  memory  of  David  H.,  son  of  John  and  Elizabeth 
Lyons,  who  died  Dec.  19,  1843,  aged  18  years,  2  mos. 
and  26  days. 

Sacred  to  the  memory  of  Doctor  Wilhelmus  Mancius, 
who  was  born  Sept.  29,  1739,  and  departed  this  life 
Oct.  22,  1808,  aged  69  years  and  26  days. 

Sacred  to  the  memory  of  Catharine  Mancius,  who  de¬ 
parted  this  life  September  9,  1826,  aged  3  months. 

In  memory  of  Anna  Mancius,  wife  of  Doct.  W.  Mancius, 
who  departed  this  life  April  26,  1816,  aged  74  years, 
7  months  and  16  days. 

John  Mancius,  died  January  6,  1827,  aged  43  years. 

Jacob  Mancius,  died  November  7,  1833,  in  the  54th  year 
of  his  age. 

Jane  Ann  Mancius,  wife  of  Jacob  Mancius,  died  August 
26,  1834,  in  the  45th  year  of  her  age. 

In  memory  of  William  Benjamin,  son  of  William  and 
Margaret  Martin,  who  departed  this  life  August  31, 
1842,  aged  16  months  and  2  days. 

Short  was  my  life, 

Long  be  my  rest; 

Christ  took  me  home 
When  he  thought  best. 


166  Ref.  Prot .  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions. 

In  memory  of  Andrew  Henry,  born  April  18,  1838 
died  April  2,  1844.  Also  Benjamin  Bradt,  born  July 
8,  1843,  died  Sept.  27,  1844,  children  of  William  and 
Margaret  Martin. 

Suffer  little  children  to  come  unto  me. 

Eliza  McFarline,  who  died  March  3,  1852,  aged  24  years. 
She  was  a  faithful  teacher  in  the  Bethel  Sabbath  School, 
and  in  death,  as  in  life,  gorified  God.  Her  remains  are 

deposited  here  and  her  name  inscribed  by  her  pastor 
as  a  tribute  of  departed  worth. 

Dearest  sister,  thou  hast  left  us 
Here  thy  loss  we  deeply  feel*, 

But  ’tis  God  who  has  bereft  us 
He  can  all  our  sorrows  heal. 

Yet  again  we  hope  to  meet  thee 
When  the  day  of  life  is  fled; 

Then  in  heaven  with  joy  to  greet  thee 
Where  no  farewell  tear  is  shed. 

To  the  memory  of  Abigal  Main,  wife  of  Mr.  Thomas 
Main,  who  died  June  9,  A.  D.,  1835,  aged  18  years, 
4  months  and  29  days. 

There  was  no  doctor  my  life  could  save 
From  being  laid  in  the  cold  grave; 

Here  to  be  devoured  by  the  worm 

And  leave  my  husband  and  babe  to  mourn. 

Under  this  stone  are  interred  the  mortal  remains  of 

John  Hardenberg  Meier, 

late  minister  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church  in  the  city  of  Sche¬ 
nectady.  He  adorned  the  doctrines  of  God  his  Saviour  displaying 
uniformly  his  attachment  to  them  and  their  influence  over  him 

As  a  man,  he  was  amiable,  possessing  a  peaceable  disposition,  fond 
•  of  social  intercourse  and  desirous  of  happiness  in  others. 

As  a  minister  of  the  Gospel,  he  was  greatly  esteemed  by  all  who 
knew  him,  hung  blessed  with  a  sound  judgment,  devoted  to  the  ser¬ 
vice  of  the  sanctuary  from  principle,  loving  the  glorious  Redeemer, 
desirous  of  wdnniny  souls  to  his  dominion. 

In  the  midst  of  his  days,  he  was  called  hence  and  left  this  world 
looking  with  faiih  and  patience  for  the  blessed  appearing  of  the 
Great  God  and  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ. 

He  was  born  October  19,  1774,  and  died  Sept.  11,  180G,  aged  31 
)ears,  10  months  and  23  days;  having  been  engaged* in  the  service  of 
•Jehovah  Jesus  almost  eight  years,  of  which  he  spent  better  than 
three  in  Schenectady. 


Ref .  Prot.  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions,  16T 

In  memory  of  Rebeccah,  daughter  of  Peter  and  Hannah 
Marshall,  who  died  Sept.  28,  1802,  aged  11  months 
and  10  days. 

Allen  Melvill,  born  in  Boston,  April  7,  1782,  died  Jan- 
29,  1831. 

i  In  memory  of  Benjamin,  son  of  James  and  Eliza  Mix, 
died  Dec.  11,  1831,  aged  10  years,  and  10  months. 
Mary  Celin,  daughter  of  John  and  Polly  Milwain,  born> 
Jan.  13,  1835,  died  May  28,  1840,  aged  5  years,  4 
months  and  15  days. 

Jane  Ann,  daughter  of  John  and  Polly  Milwain,  died  Sept.. 

7,  1841,  aged  15  years  and  18  days. 

In  memory  of  Elizabeth  Minders,  who  departed  this- 
life  August  27,  1823,  aged  78  years. 

The  sweet  remembrance  of  the  just 
Shall  not  perish  with  their  dust, 

Christian  Miller,  an  old  disciple,  born  at  Hanau,  Germany,. 
March  7,  1767,  died  in  Albany,  Dec.  6,  1844. 

A  devout  man,  and  one  that  feared  God. 

Maria,  wife  of  Christian  Miller,  died  April  30,  1850, 
aged  86  years,  10  days. 

Asleep  in  Jesus. 

Augustus  V.  S.  son  of  Christian  and  Maria  Miller,  died 
in  Albany,  August  16,  1812,  aged  16  years,  4  months 
and  1 1  days. 

Sarah  Kip  Miller,  wife  of  Wm.  Wendell,  died  May  19, 
1850,  in  her  24th  year. 

In  memory  of 

Sarah  S.  Kip.  wife  of  William  C.  Miller, 

Who  having  from  early  youth  illustrated  the  power  of  divine  grace 
by  a  life  eminently  devoted  to  her  God  and  Redeemer,  and  rendered 
herself  greatly  endeared  and  prized  in  all  the  relations  she  sustained, 
especially  in  those  of  a  wife  and  mother,  in  perfect  peace  yielded  up 
her  spirit  on  the  28th  day  of  Dec.  1837,  being  the  37th  anniversary 
of  her  birth. 

Blessed  are  the  dead  who  die  in  the  Lord;  they  rest  from  their 
labours  and  their  works  do  follow  them. 

Leonard  William,  son  of  Wm.  C.  and  Sarah  S.  Miller,  who 
died  May  31,  1833,  aged  3  years,  9  months  and  10 
days. 


168  Ref.  Prot.  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions. 

Lived  to  wake  each  tender  passion 
And  delightful  hopes  inspire-, 

Died  to  try  our  resignation 
And  direct  our  wishes  higher. 

Isaac  Kip  Miller,  born  Feb.  24,  1822,  died  Jan.  22, 
1845. 

Them  also  which  sleep  in  Jesus 

Will  God  bring  with  him. 

Richard  De  Witt,  son  of  Wm.  C.  and  Sarah  S.  Miller, 
who  died  June  20,  1833,  aged  7  months  and  16  days. 

Rest,  sweet  babe,  in  gentle  slumbers 
Till  the  resurrection  morn; 

7  • 

Then  arise  to  join  the  numbers 
That  its  triumph  shall  adorn. 

In  memory  of  Peter  Miller,  who  died  Dec.  31,  1827, 
aged  40.  Also  of  his  infant  daughter  Elsie  Gertrude, 
who  died  August  30,  1821,  aged  13  months  and  1  day. 

Silas,  son  of  William  C.  and  Lydia  M.  Miller,  who  died 
Sept.  10,  1840,  aged  2  months  and  13  days. 

Hamlet,  died  August  10,  1843,  aged  2  months  and  24 
days. 

George  Henry,  son  of  Richard  and  Jane  Morrell,  died 
August  19,  1835,  aged  3  years,  11  months  and  16  days. 

Sleep  on,  my  child, 

And  take  thy  rest, 

Thy  early  call, 

God  thought  it  best. 

Thomas  Morgan,  Jun.,  who  died  Jan.  20,  1832,  aged 
35  years. 

Jane  Ann  Moore,  who  died  July  11,  1852,  in  the  34th 
year  of  her  age. 

The  remembrance  of  the  just, 

Shall  flourish  when  they  sleep  in  dust. 

Samuel  Morrell,  1843,  A5  38. 

William  W.  died  July  28,  1846,  aged  3  years,  10  months, 
and  28  days. 

It  is  said  that  little  spirits, 

Taken  from  the  vale  of  wo, 

By  their  pure  insullied  merits 
To  thy  starry  regions  go. 


Ref.  Prot.  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions.  169 

Andrew,  Jr.,  died  Dec.  22,  1850,  aged  12  years,  1  month 
and  16  days. 

But  I  know  thou  hast  forever, 

Little  sufferer,  gone  to  rest, 

To  return  I’d  have  thee  never 
From- the  kingdom  of  the  blest. 

Sons  of  Andrew  and  Margaret  Moore, 
i  Mary  Parker,  wife  of  John  McCrossen,  died  July  12, 
1852,  aged  66  years. 

Here  lies  the  body  of  Catharine  McDowl,  who  departed 
this  life  Nov.  30,  1790,  aged  35  years,  2  months  and 
28  days. 

Elizabeth  McGrea,  departed  this  life  April  4,  1846,  aged 
75  years. 

Dear  mother, 

Tho’  severed  now  we  hope  to  meet  above 
In  realms  of  bliss  and  never  ending  love. 

In  memory  of  Catharine  Eliza,  wife  of  Angus  McNaugh-^ 
ton,  who  departed  this  life  October  12,  1841,  aged  21 
years  and  8  months.  Also  John  Van  Kuren,  infant  son 
of  A.  and  C.  E.  McNaughton,  died  October  20,  1841, 
aged  3  months  and  20  days. 

George  H.  son  of  Wm.  and  Sarah  McKenzie,  was  born 
Feb.  16,  1849,  died  Nov.  8,  1851.  Also  William  M. 
McKenzie,  was  born  April  10.  1851,  died  July  21,  1851. 

Margery  McLeod,  born  March  29,  1785,  died  Dec.  2, 
1852,  aged  67  years,  8  months  and  22  days. 

Duncan  McLeod,  son  of  Donald  and  Margery  McLeod, 
born  August  22,  1794,  died  Jan.  1,  1834,  aged  39 
years,  4  months  and  10  days. 

I  Margery  McLeod,  wife  of  Donald  McLeod,  who  departed 
this  life  May  4,  1831,  aged  79  years,  1  month  and  22 
days. 

Donald  McLeod,  who  departed  this  life  June  22,  1834, 
aged  80  years,  1  month  and  21  days. 

Agnes,  daughter  of  John  and  Agnes  McLaclilan,  who 
died  on  the  12th  day  of  May,  1846,  aged  38  years 
and  15  days. 

Robert,  son  of  John  and  Agnes  McLaclilan,  who  died  on 
the  28th  day  of  May,  1837,  aged  28  years. 


170  Ref.  Prot.  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions. 

William  Munsing. 

To  the  memory  of  Marte  Mynderse,  born  20th  April, 
1728,  died  26th  April,  1806,  aged  79  years  and  6  days. 

In  memory  of  Sara  Mynderse,  wife  of  Marte  Mynderse, 
who  departed  this  life  February  15,  1791,  aged  66 
years  and  1  month. 

Cornelia,  wife  of  Benjamin  Myers,  died  Dec.  5,  1851,  aged 
38  years. 

Of  such  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 

Harriet,  died  June  29,  1852,  aged  2  years,  and  10  month, 
Cornelia,  died  Feb.  17,  1852,  aged  6  months.  Children 
of  B.  and  C.  Miers. 

Jn  memory  of  Elizabeth  wife  of  John  W.  Netterville, 
who  died  June  24,  1836,  aged  40  years.  Also  John  T. 
L.  Netterville,  died  Dec.  27,  1828,  aged  2  years.  Also 
William  I.  Netterville,  died  March  6,  1834,  aged  4 
years,  children  of  J.  W.  and  Elizabeth  Netterville. 

Sacred  to  the  memory  of  Mary  Ann  Nemire,  wife  of  John 
H.  Nemire,  who  died  May  1,  1809,  aged  52  years,  and 
25  days. 

Rustplaats  van  onzen  geliefden  oudsten  zoon,  M.  L.  Van* 
Nouhuijs,  geboren  8th  April,  1832,  overleden  27  Oct. 
1852,  in  den  ouderdom  van  20  jaar,  6  maanden,  18 
dagen. 

Hier  Rust,  de  Dochter  Van  Hiram  Menmgeerts  Mina 
Pariou,  geboren  den  9  November,  en  overleden  den 
December. 

Hier  Rust  Francina  Klompenaar,  huis  vrouw  van  Simon 
Osterman,  geb.  den  18  Sept.  J828,overl.  den  22  Maart 
1851.  En  hare  kinderen  geb.  den  23  Feb.  1851,  overl. 
den  23  Maart  1851 ;  Francina  geb.  23  Feb.  1851 ,  overl. 
den  22  July,  1851. 

In  memory  of  Benjamin  Ostrander,  died  16th  Dec.  1822, 
aged  41  years,  and  5  months. 

In  memory  of  James  Ostrander,  who  departed  Oct.  26, 
1844,  aged  36  years  and  8  months. 

In  memory  of  Harriet,  daughter  of  Captain  William  and 
Lucy  Ostrander,  who  departed  this  life  November  15, 
1830,  aged  18  years  and  10  days. 

In  memory  of  Georgianna  Ostrander,  daughter  of  John 


Ref.  Prot.  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions.  171 

I.  Ostrander,  died  March  23,  1823,  aged  4  years  and 
10  months. 

In  memory  of  George  Robert  Ostrander,  son  of  J.  I. 
and  Ann  Ostrander,  died  July  6,  1818,  aged  2  years, 
7  months  and  20  days. 

Sacred  to  the  memory  of  Adaline  M.  Ostrander,  who 
died  February  7.  1837,  aged  20  years  and  7  months. 

Sacred  to  the  memory  of  Maria  Outhout,  who  departed 
this  life  January  9,  1835,  aged  49  years. 

John  Outwin,  departed  this  life  March  14,  1833,  aged  2 
years,  2  months  and  21  days. 

Alexander  McDonald  Outwin,  departed  this  life  1st 
March,  1833,  aged  3  years,  10  months  and  23  days. 

Margaret  Outwin,  departed  this  life  August  26,  1833, 
aged  5  years,  11  months  and  5  days. 

Loved  youth,  how  short  on  earth  your  stay 
Death  his  fell  dart  has  hurled, 

But  soon  your  spirits  found  their  way 
To  yon  celestial  world. 

While  fond  remembrance  reads  your  stone 
And  heaves  the  deep  felt  sigh, 

We’ll  learn  to  lean  on  Christ  alone 
And  in  his  bosom  die. 

In  memory  of  Isaac  Owens,  who  departed  this  life  in 
the  year  1814,  aged  64  years.  Also  his  beloved  wife 
Levena  Owens,  who  departed  this  life  in  the  year  1825, 
aged  80  years. 

This  tomb  was  erected  by  William  Owens,  in  memory  of  his  beloved 
parents. 

Mary  Amanda,  daughter  of  Allen  F.  and  Hannah  Peck, 
died  Dec.  26,  1845,  aged  1  year  and  8  months. 

In  memory  of  John  Thompson  Pittenger,  son  of  Abraham 
and  Eliza  Pittenger,  who  died  July  18,  1807,  aged  1 
year  and  12  days. 

Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Jeremiah  and  Ann  Penniel,  and 
wife  of  William  C.  Lockerty,  died  June  7,  1841,  aged 
40  years  and  11  days. 

In  memory  of  John  S.  Phelps,  a  soldier  of  the  revolution, 
born  in  Hebron,  Connecticut,  on  the  10th  day  of 
August,  1759,  and  died  on  the  15th  day  of  June,  1812, 
aged  52  years  10  months  and  5  days. 


172  Ref.  Prot.  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions » 

In  memory  of  Catharine  Conine,  wife  of  John  S.  Phelps, 
born  in  the  town  of  Coxsackie,  N.  Y.,  on  the  11th  day 
of  Nov.  1763,  and  died  on  the  27th  day  of  April,  1841, 
aged  77  years,  5  months  and  16  days. 

In  memory  of  Catharine  eldest  daughter  of  Phillip  and 
Hannah  Phelps,  died  on  the  18th  day  of  March,  1846, 
aged  26  years, 

Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart,  for  they  shall  see  God. 

Caroline  M.  Phelps,  departed  this  life  June  14,  1836, 
aged  21  years,  in  the  hope  of  a  glorious  resurrection. 
u  Them  also  which  slept  in  Jesus  will  God  bring  with  him.'” 

In  memory  of  Jacob,  son  of  Charles  P.  and  Eliza  Poinier, 
who  died  Oct.  8,  1809,  aged  2  months,  and  15  days. 

In  memory  of  Jennette  Courtney,  wife  of  Sylvanus  B. 
Pond,  who  died  Sept.  30,  1822,  aged  28  years.  Also 
Julia  Maria,  their  daughter,  who  died  Oct.  15,  1821, 
aged  9  months. 

In  memory  of  John  Price,  who  departed  this  life  Dec.  6, 
1791,  aged  68  years,  3  months  and  11  days. 

In  memory  of  Cornelia  Price,  who  departed  this  life  July 
15,  1813,  aged  89  years,  8  months  and  9  days. 

David  Pruyn,  born  August  24,  1771,  died  Jan.  20,  1843. 

I  have  waited  for  thy  salvation,  0  Lord. 

In  memory  of  Helen,  wife  of  Samuel  Pruyn,  who  died 
Oct.  28,  1836,  aged  32  years,  9  months  and  23  days. 

In  memory  of  Anna  Pruyn,  who  departed  this  life  Feb. 
3,  1833,  aged  70  years,  and  6  month. 

Anna,  daughter  of  Samuel  and  Helen  Pruyn,  aged  16  y. 

Sammie. 

Frankie. 

In  memory  of  John  F.  Pruyn,  who  departed  this  life  the 
23d  March,  1815,  aged  75  years,  2  months  and  21 
days. 

V 

In  memory  of  John  S.  Pruyn,  who  departed  this  life  the 
8th  of  May,  1816,  aged  47  years,  6  months  and  8  days. 

In  memory  of  Margaret  Lansing,  widow  of  John  S.  Pruyn, 
who  departed  this  life  15th  Oct.  1839,  aged  67  years. 
5  months  and  25  days. 


Ref .  Prot.  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions .  173 

In  memory  of  Elizabeth  daughter  of  Casparus  F.,  and 
Anna  Pruyn,  born  Dec.  16,  1818,  died  Feb.  6,  1842. 

In  memory  of  Anna  Pruyn,  wife  of  Casparus  F.  Pruyn, 
born  Jan.  27,  1794,  died  Feb.  12,  1841. 

In  memory  of  Mary  Pruyn,  daughter  of  Casparus  F.,  and 
Ann  Pruyn,  who  died  March  19,  1824,  aged  1  year,  1 
month  and  21  days. 

In  memory  of  Samuel,  only  son  of  Stephen  and  Maria 
Putnam,  who  departed  this  life  April  9,  1832,  aged  4 
years  and  11  months. 

Laura  Putnam,  daughter  of  Elisha  and  Esther  Putnam, 
departed  this  life  18th  Jan.  1801,  aged  3  years  and 
14  days. 

In  memory  of  Deborah  Putnam,  who  died  April  7,  1842, 
aged  26  years,  5  months  and  14  days. 

Ellenor  Radcliff,  who  departed  this  life  6th  of  August, 
1831,  aged  41  years,  4  months  and  25  days. 

Here  lies  the  body  of  Fanny  Radcliff,  who  departed  this 
life  Jan.  19,  1817,  aged  7  years  and  24  days. 

Elizabeth  Ratcliff,  wife  of  Samuel  Norton,  who  died 
April  30,  A.  D.,  1841,  aged  77  years. 

Mathew  son  of  Jacob  and  Eve  Ratcliff,  died  Sept.  18, 
1839,  aged  8  years,  2  months  and  22  days. 

Christiana,  wife  of  Wm.  Rankin,  died  June  21,  1843, 
aged  31  years.  Also  their  son  James  Rankin,  died 
July  10,  1843,  aged  13  months. 

Elizabeth  daughter  of  Wm.  and  Christianna  Rankin, 
died  Jan.  1841,  aged  2  months,  and  29  days. 

Sacred  to  the  memory  of  Jane  Ann,  wife  of  Henry  Rector, 
who  was  born  Sept.  28,  1794,  and  died  June  3,  1827, 
aged  33  years,  8  months  and  5  days.  Also  their  two 
children,  one  of  whom  died  the  5th  of  August,  1822, 
aged  8  days,  the  other  on  the  30th  of  May,  1827,  aged 
1  day. 

Here  lies  mingled  the  kindred  dust 
Of  a  fond  mother  and  her  tender  babes, 

A  husband’s  joy,  and  a  father’s  trust 
All  buried  in  their  silent  graves. 

But  why  should  mortal  man  complain 
If  God  these  choicest  gifts  deny, 


174  Ref.  Prot.  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions. 

Soon  he  shall  meet  these  friends  again 
And  ever  dwell  with  them  on  high. 

Caroline  Relay,  who  departed  this  life  April  27,  1844, 
in  the  19th  year  of  her  age. 

Edward  Reynolds,  who  departed  this  life  August  25, 
1841,  aged  52  years.  Also  George,  son  of  Edward 
and  Elizabeth  Reynolds,  who  departed  this  life  Sept. 
28,  1829,  aged  6  years  and  3  days. 

In  memory  of  Ann  Richards,  who  died  Feb.  22,  1852,  in 
the  81st  year  of  her  age. 

Richard  Rosencranse,  died  June  1,  1841,  aged  19  years, 

4  months  and  8  days. 

Elsey,  wife  of  Abraham  Rosencranse,  died  June  5,  1845, 
aged  62  years,  3  months  and  9  days. 

Abraham  Rosencranse,  died  July  20,  1847,  aged  66  years, 

9  months  and  28  days. 

Harriet  Rosecranse,  died  August  30,  1847,  aged  38  years, 

9  months  and  4  days. 

In  memory  of  Henry  Roseboom,  who  departed  this  life  on 
the  21st  April,  1790,  in  the  25th  year  of  his  age. 

He  was  the  first  interred  in  the  burying  ground. 

In  memory  of  Mary  M.  Roseboom,  died  July  13,  1845, 
aged  4  months  and  21  days.  Also  of  Charles  A.  ~ 
Roseboom,  died  March  12,  1847,  aged  8  months,  and 
9  davs.  The  children  of  Garret  and  Cornelia  Rose- 

%r 

boom. 

In  memory  of  Garrett  Roseboom,  who  died  July  7,  1787, 
aged  54  years,  and  5  months. 

In  memory  of  Margaret  Robiebaux,  the  wife  of  James 
Robiebaux,  who  departed  this  life  the  26th  of  August, 
1795,  aged  37  years  and  6  months. 

In  memory  of  Lousia  Robbins,  who  died  June  28,  1844, 
aged  11  months,  and  26  days. 

In  memory  of  John  Peter  Russ,  son  of  Adam  and  Eliza¬ 
beth  Russ,  who  died  Sept.  11,  1802,  aged  1  year. 

Charles  Russell,  of  New  Bedford,  in  the  69th  year  of 
his  age. 

Martha,  relict  of  the  late  Charles  Russell,  died  Nov.  24, 
1849,  in  the  77th  year  of  her  age. 


Ref.  Prot.  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions.  175 

Here  lies  the  body  of  the  deceased  Catharine  Ryan, 
daughter  of  James  and  Esther  Ryan,  who  departed 
this  life  the  21st  of  Oct.  1802,  aged  3  years,  1  month 
and  19  days. 

There  rest  in  peace,  thou  lovely  maid, 

There  sleep  in  sweet  repose, 

And  though  thou  moulder  with  the  dust 
Thou’rt  fairer  than  the  rose. 

In  memory  of  Peter  Ryckman,  who  departed  this  life 
Jan.  15,  1811,  aged  79  years,  8  months,  and  6  days. 

Sacred  to  the  memory  of  Miss  Susannah  Ryckman,  who 
departed  this  life  Sept.  3,  1821,  in  the  84th  year  of  her 
age. 

Sacred  to  the  memory  of  Mary  Lansing,  wife  of  Edward 
R.  Satterlee,  who  died  Oct.  24,  1816,  in  the  36th  year 
of  her  age. 

In  memory  of  Gertrude  Able,  wife  of  Ryer  Schermer- 
horn,  who  died  10th  April,  1830,  aged  43  years,  6 
months  and  4  days.. 

In  memory  of  Alida  Van  Schaick,  relict  of  Brandt 
Schuyler  Swifts,  who  departed  this  life  April  1,  1825, 
aged  51  years,  5  months  and  7  days.  . 

The  grave  of  Cornelia  K.,  wife  of  Lawrence  L.  Schuyler, 
who  died  Nov.  16,  1840,  aged  33  years,  10  months.  11 
days. 

Lord,  I  commit  my  soul  to  thee, 

Admit  the  sacred  trust*, 

Receive  this  nobler  part  of  me 
And  watch  my  sleeping  dust, 

Till  that  illustrious  morning  come 
When  all  thy  saints  shall  rise, 

And  clothed  in  full  immortal  bloom 
Attend  thee  to  the  skies. 

Rustplaats  van  J.  C.  Borsboom,  huis  vrouw  van  M. 
Schoenmaker.  Geb.  17th  Julij,  1817,  Over.  14th  Janu¬ 
ary,  1851.  J.  C.  A.  Schoenmaker,  eenige  doghter  des- 
overleedene  geb.  6th  Januarij,  1851. 

In  memory  of  Mary  Staats,  wife  of  Harmanus  P.  Schuy¬ 
ler,  who  died  March  24,  1794,  aged  20  years. 

[Annals,  vi.]  16 


176  Ref.  Prot.  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions. 

In  memory  of  Mary  Dean,  wife  of  Harmanus  P.  Schuy¬ 
ler,  who  died  28th  Dec.  1810,  aged  38  years,  2  months 
and  28  days. 

In  memory  of  Schuyler  Swits,  son  of  Brandt  S.  and 
Alida  Swits.  He  died  April  15,  1799,  aged  8  months. 

i  Ere  sin  could  blast  or  sorrow  fade 

Death  came  with  friendly  care, 

The  opening  bud  to  heaven  conveyed 
And  bade  it  blossom  there. 

Sacred  to  the  memory  of  Jane,  wife  of  William  Seymour, 
born  Dec.  14,  1796,  died  August  13,  1837,  aged  40 
years  and  8  months. 

The  Saviour  made  her  dying  bed 
A  scene  of  triumph,  joy  and  love, 

Hope,  taith  in  him,  sustained,  and  bore 
Her  happy  spirit  to  its  home  above. 

In  memory  of  Eve  Beeckman,  consort  of  Abraham 
Schuyler,  who  departed  this  life  on  July  17,  1803, 
aged  69  years,  5  months  and  3  days. 

In  memory  of  Abraham  Schoyeer,  who  departed  this  life 
on  the  27th  day  of  May,  1812,  aged  75  years,  5  m.  4  d. 

In  memory  of  Barbara,  daughter  of  Peter  G.,  and  Maria 
Sharp,  wrho  died  March  31,  aged  10  years,  8  months 
and  5  days. 

The  grave  of  Susan  wife  of  P.  V.  Shankland,  'who  died 
March  6,  1838,  aged  35  years. 

Hier.  Ruhe.  Der:  Kleine  Engel.  Conrath  Schafer  1st 
Geboren  Den  21st  August,  1838,  Und  Gestorben  Den 
23  Mai  1846. 

Sacred  to  the  memory  of  Ann  Shankland,  widow  of 
Barnardus  Bloomingdall,  who  died  August  9,  1843, 
aged  69  years,  2  months  and  25  days. 

Sarah  Elizabeth  Sharp,  daughter  of  Jacob  and  Eliza  Ann 
Sharp,  who  died  on  the  31st  Sept.  1827,  aged  1  year 
and  2  months. 

Her  days  how  short,  how  early  called  away, 

To  pay  that  debt  each  mortal  has  to  pay, 

But  cease  to  mourn,  ye  friends  from  tears  refrain, 

A  moment’s  loss  is  her  eternal  gain. 


Ref.  Prot.  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions .  177 

James  Henry  Sharp,  son  of  Jacob  and  Eliza  Ann  Sharp, 
who  died  on  the  16th  of  August,  1829,  aged  10  months 
and  17  days. 

His  days  how  short,  how  early  called  away, 

To  pay  that  debt  each  mortal  has  to  pay, 

But  cease  to  mourn,  ye  friends,  from  tears  refrain, 

A  moment’s  loss  is  his  eternal  gain. 


Christiana  Shaw,  wife  of  Napoleon  B.  Shaw,  who  departed 
this  life  May  7,  1844,  aged  28  years. 

Adam  Shields,  who  died  April  28,  1851,  in  the  86th  year 
of  his  age. 

[Elizabeth,  wife  of  Adam  Shields,  who  died  Oct.  29,  1846, 
aged  78  years. 

In  memory  of  Mary,  wife  of  Adam  Shields,  Jr.,  who  died 
July  30,  1836,  aged  40  years. 

In  memory  of  Elinor  wife  of  Adam  Shields,  Jr.,  who  died 
Dec.  1,  1844,  aged  52  years. 

Janet  Shields,  who  departed  this  life  Jan.  27,  1831,  aged 
28  years. 

Erected  to  the  memory  of  Joseph  D.  Shiffer,  who  de¬ 
parted  this  life  Sept.  14,  1830,  aged  34  years,  9  months 
and  11  days. 


While  o’er  his  grave  his  lovely  children  dear, 

With  heartfelt  sorrow  drop  a  silent  tear, 

Here  rests  a  man,  each  passing  neighbor  cries, 

Whom  dead  all  mourned,  when  living  all  did  prize. 

May  heaven  to  his  loved  mother  pity  show, 

And  his  dear  offspring  while  they  live  below, 

And  may  they  all  united  meet  above, 

I  In  the  blessed  mansions  of  eternal  love. 

Erected  to  the  memory  of  Matilda,  wife  of  Joseph  D. 
Shiffer,  who  departed  this  life  April  7,  1828,  aged  27 
years,  4  months  and  1  day,  and  of  her  infant  son  John 
James,  who  departed  this  life  Dec.  9,  1827,  aged  8 
months  and  10  days. 


Tho’  low  in  earth  her  beauteous  form’s  decayed, 
My  faithful  wife,  my  loved  Matilda’s  laid, 

Ye  guardian  angels  who  surround  the  just, 
Preserve  each  atom  of  the  precious  dust. 

To  name  her  virtues  ill  befits  my  grief, 

What  was  my  bliss  can  now  give  no  relief; 


178  Ref.  Prot.  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions. 

A  husband  mourns,  the  rest  let  friendship  tell, 

Fame  spread  her  worth,  a  husband  knew  it  well. 

Consecrated  to  the  memory  of  Ellen  daughter  of  James 
and  Mary  Sickels,  who  departed  this  life  Noy.  25, 
1831. 

Peace  to  thy  ashes,  dear  one;  thou  hast  fallen  in  the 
bright  summer  of  thy  days  when  all  seemed  fair  be¬ 
fore  thee.  Yes  thou  art  gone,  sweet  friend,  never  to 
return  to  charm  these  eyes  and  soothe  the  aching  heart ; 
thy  buoyant  spirits  fled,  and  that  fair  brow  is  now  as 
cold  and  passionless  as  is  this  marble. 

'Sacred  to  the  memory  of  Mary,  wife  of  James  Sickels,  who 
died  April  19,  1840,  aged  65  years,  2  months  and  6 
days. 

'Sacred  to  the  memory  of  Elizabeth  Sickels,  daughter  of 
James  and  Mary  Sickels,  who  died  Dec.  21,  1829,  aged 
26  years. 

And  art  thou  fled,  thou  kind  and  gentle  one, 
art  thou  called  hence  to  mingle  with  the  spirits 
of  the  dead,  thou  whom  we  so  deplore.  But  we 
shall  meet  again  before  the  throne  of  grace  and 
meet  to  part  no  more. 

This  stone  was  erected  by  her  brother  James  Sickels,  Jr. 

In  memory  of  Christopher  0.  Sickles,  died  on  22d  of 
Oct.  1847,  aged  42  years,  5  months  and  3  days. 

.‘Sacred  to  the  memory  of  Nancy,  wife  of  John  Skidmore, 
who  departed  this  life  April  26,  1797,  aged  35 
years. 

..  Say,  are  you  sure  God’s  mercy  shall  extend 

To  you  so  long  a  span?  Alas,  you  sigh. 

Make  then,  while  yet  you  may,  your  God  your  friend, 
And  learn  with  equal  ease  to  sleep  or  die. 

In  memory  of  Hester  Slingerland,  who  died  J tine  22, 
1817,  aged  38  years,  8  months.  Also  Tunis  and  Ann 
children  of  Douw  B.  and  Ann  Slingerland,  who  de¬ 
parted  this  life:  Tunis  on  12th  Sept.  1806,  aged  6 
months;  Ann  on  26th  of  June,  aged  4  years. 

In  memory  of  three  children  of  Robert  F.,  and  Franpes 
Slack.  Frances  Mary,  died  Sept.  21,  1830,  aged  2 
years,  7  months  and  14  days.  John  June  19,  1833, 
aged  7  years,  11  months  and  22  days;  and  Anna  Bar* 


Ref.  Prof.  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions.  179' 

bara,  August  20,  1833,  aged  3  years.  1  month  and  22 
days. 

The  Lord  is  a  better  keeper. 

Ann,  daughter  of  Aldert  and  Elizabeth  Smedes,  died  12th 
June,  1806,  aged  22  years,  2  months  and  12  days. 

In  memory  of  Mrs.  Femmitie  Snyder,  the  wife  of  Mr. 
Nicholas  Snyder,  and  daughter  of  the  Key.  Ulpianus 
Yon  Sinderen,  who  died  Oct.  14,  1789. 

In  memory  of  Solomon  Soutliwick,  born  Jan.  12,  1804,  ' 
died  July  31,  1835,  aged  31  years,  6  months  and  18 
days. 

In  memory  of  Frances,  aged  3  years  and  Mary  Ann,  aged 
9  months,  died  Jan.  1,  1833,  daughters  of  Solomon 
W.,  and  Sarah  B.  Southwick.  * 

They  were  lovely  and  pleasant  in  their 
lives,  and  in  their  death  were  not  divided. 

Willimarthe  Southwick,  died  August  19,  1843,  aged  66 
years.  Also  Hannah  Southwick,  died  Jan.  24,  1844, 
aged  75  years. 

In  memory  of  Laura  0.,  daughter  of  the  late  Alexander 
Spencer,  of  Dutchess  county  who  died  in  Greenbush, 
Rensselaer  county  Dec.  2,  1835,  aged  35  years. 

I.  M.  S.  Asaph  Sykes,  Ob.  Sept.  3,  1836,  AE  34  years, 

11  months. 

William  Henry,  infant  son  of  A.  and  L.  A.  Sykes,  who 
died  April  11,  1833,  aged  8  months  and  3  days. 

Philo  Duer,  son  of  Asaph  and  Lydia  A.  Sykes,  died  Sept. 
11,  1831,  aged  3  years,  1L  months  27  days. 

Out  of  the  mouths  of  babes  and  sucklings, 
thou  hast  perfected  praise.  Math,  xxi,  16. 

William  J.  Staats,  son  of  John  and  Maria  Staats,  who 
died  7th  Oct.,  1808,  aged  2  years,  5  months  and  22 
days. 

In  memory  of  William  Staats,  who  departed  this  life 
May  22,  1825,  aged  89  years  and  15  days.  And  of 
Anna  his  wife,  who  departed  this  life  3d  June,  1829, 
aged  79  years,  5  months  and  11  days. 

In  memory  of  Ann  Staats,- widow  of  Henry  Staats,  born 


180  Ref .  Prot.  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions. 

on  Long  Island,  died  in  Albany,  Feb.  25,  1829,  aged 
82  years. 

Sacred  to  the  memory  of  Isaac  Staats,  who  departed  this 
life  the  4th  of  Oct.,  1829,  aged  44  years. 

In  memory  of  John  Y.  Staats,  who  departed  this  life 
April  22,  1830,  aged  53  years,  5  months. 

To  the  memorjr  of  Cuyler  Staats,  son  of  Barent  G.  Staats, 
and  Catherine  Cuyler,  who  died  Jan.  24,  1832,  aged 
25  years,  5  months  and  18  days. 

To  the  memory  of  Catherine  Cuyler,  relict  of  Barent  G. 
Staats,  who  died  Sept.  16,  1852,  aged  83  years. 

The  decline  of  her  life  was  like  the 
setting  sun,  serene  and  beautiful.  Her 
gentle  spirit  calmly  fell  asleep  in  Jesus. 

Harriet  Jane  Steele,  died  May  4,  1840,  aged  16  years  and 
6  months. 

In  memory  of  Jacob  F.  Sternbergh,  who  departed  this 
life  Aug.  17,  1832,  aged  44  years,  8  months  and  27 
days. 

Samuel  Stilwell,  son  of  John  and  Judith  Stilwell,  died 
17th  Jan.  1816,  aged  10  days.  Also,  Samuel  Stilwell, 
2d,  died  27th  June,  1821,  aged  1  year,  4  months  and 
20  days. 

Died  Nov.  28,  1850,  Catharine  Harbeck  Strain,  aged  11 
months  and  6  days. 

Died  Nov.  23,  1846,  John  Strain,  aged  5  years,  9  months 
and  12  days,  son  of  John  F.  and  D.  Henrietta  Strain. 

Died  Sept.  15,  1847,  Samuel  Harbeck  Strain,  aged  1 
year,  l  month  and  1  day. 

Henrietta  H.,  infant  daughter  of  John  F.  and  Henrietta 
Strain,  died  Oct.  3,  1840,  aged  1  year  and  5  months. 

Died  July  14,  1843,  William  James,  son  of  John  F.  and 
D.  Henrietta  Strain,  aged  10  months  and  18  days. 

Margaret  Taylor,  the  wife  of  John  Taylor.  She  was  born 
on  the  1st  Dec.,  1742,  old  style,  and  departed  this  life 
on  the  16th  July,  1796,  aged  53  years,  7  months,  4  d. 

John  Taylor,  who  was  born  4th  July,  0.  S.,  and  departed 
this  life  19th  March,  1829,  aged  86  years,  7  months 
and  23  days. 


Ref.  Prot.  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions.  181 

Sacred  to  the  memory  of  Catharine  Teller,  who  was  born 
June  20,  1762,  died  July  21,  1824,  aged  62  years  and 
1  month. 

Hier  rust  William  Terhaap. 

Elfie  Ten  Eyck,  wife  of  Barent  Ten  Eyck,  who  departed 
this  life  Nov.  27,  1791,  aged  68  years,  2  months,  1  day. 

Barent  Ten  Eyck,  who  died  the  27th  day  of  Feb.,  1795, 
aged  80  years  and  5  months. 

Geertie  Ten  Eyck,  wife  of  John  F.  Pruyn,  who  departed 
this  life  May  16,  1807,  aged  70  years,  8  months  and 
27  days. 

Jacob  Ten  Eyck,  who  departed  this  life  Sept.  9,  1793, 
aged  28  years,  4  months  and  7  days. 

Catharine  Ten  Eyck,  who  departed  this  life  Nov.  15, 
1790,  aged  81  years. 

Sarah  Ten  Eyck,  wife  of  John  II.  Ten  Eyck.  obt.  16th 
Feb.,  1801,  aged  70  years. 

John  H.  Ten  Eyck,  who  died  the  31st  day  of  July,  1794, 
aged  83  years,  11  months  and  10  days. 

Erected  to  the  memory  of  Abraham  Ten  Eyck,  who  died 
Nov.  7,  1824,  aged  80  years. 

Anna,  wife  of  Abraham  Ten  Eyck,  who  died  26th  Jan., 
1823,  aged  76  years  and  6  months. 

Neiltie  Ten  Eyck,  wife  of  Samuel  Pruyn,  who  departed 
this  life  April  14,  1817,  aged  88  years,  2  months  and 
22  days. 

In  memory  of  Catharine  Ten  Broeck,  wife  of  John  Bo¬ 
gart,  who  departed  this  life  the  1st  of  Feb.  1792,  aged 
32  years,  6  months  and  29  days. 

John  E.  Thorburn,  died  July  3,  1840,  aged  11  years. 
Also,  Anna  S.  Thorburn,  aged  16  months. 

From  adverse  blast  and  lowering  storms, 

Their  favor’d  souls  he  bore, 

And  with  yon  bright  angelic  forms, 

They  live  to  die  no  more. 

George  W.  Thacher,  born  at  New  Haven,  Ct.,  March  31, 
1747,  aged  69  years,  10  months  and  16  days. 

Stephen  Tillson,  who  died  April  15,  1831,  in  the  24th 
year  of  his  acre. 


182  Ref .  Prot.  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions. 

Sacred  to  the  memory  of  Isaac  Truax,  who  departed  this 
life  the  12th  Oct.,  1812,  aged  53  years,  5  months  and 
9  days. 

My  flesh  shall  slumber  in  the  ground, 

Till  the  last  trumpet’s  joyful  sound, 

Then  burst  the  chains  with  sweet  surprise, 

And  in  my  Saviour’s  image  rise. 

Sacred  to  the  memory  of  Jane  Bleecker,  daughter  of 
John  I.  Bleecker,  and  consort,  of  Isaac  Truax,  who 
departed  this  life  March  26th,  1811,  aged  47  years,  5 
months  and  11  days. 

No!  I’ll  repine  at  death  no  more, 

But  with  a  cheerful  voice  resign 
To  the  cold  dungeon  of  the  grave, 

These  dying,  withering  limbs  of  mine. 

John  Bleecker  Truax,  who  died  May  9,  1817,  aged  18 
years,  4  months  and  25  days. 

Henry  Truax,  who  died  Dec,  15,  1834,  in  the  74th  year 
of  his  age. 

Anna  Truax,  widow  of  Henry  Truax,  who  died  Nov.  23, 
1845,  in  the  77th  year  of  her  age.  Also  of  their  child¬ 
ren:  Catharine  W.  Truax,  who  died  Aug.  15,  1791, 
aged  21  days:  Catharine  W.  Truax,  who  died  May 
19,  1794,  aged  1  year,  9  months  and  24  days:  Cath¬ 
arine  W.  Truax,  who  died  July  12,  1826,  in  the  27th 
year  of  her  age. 

In  memory  of  Edward  I.  Toby,  stepson  of  John  Miles, 
chaplain  of  the  Albany  Bethel.  He  died  in  the  Lord, 
at  sea  near  the  Sandwich  Islands,  Feb.  25,  1848,  aged 
24  years.  His  remains  were  brought  home  by  Capt. 
Nickerson,  of  Nantucket. 

The  vessel’s  wreck’d,  the  voyage  is  o’er, 

But  the  immortal  cargo’s  saved-, 

It’s  gone  aloft,  where  spirits  oft 

Have  gone  who  all  earth’s  storms  have  braved. 

The  shatter’d  hulk  is  resting  here, 

Neath  Christ  the  captain’s  eye-, 

’Twill  rise  again,  its  freight  obtain, 

Andtanchor  in  the  sky. 

William  Updike,  born  May  22,  1815,  died  August  10, 
1848. 


Ref.  Prot.  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions.  183 

John  I.  Van  Allen,  who  departed  this  life  June  25,  1801 
aged  28  years  and  8  days. 

Death  is  the  road  that  all  must  tread; 

.  Man’s  made  of  dust  and  earth  his  bed. 

Also  of  Margaret  daughter  of  John  I.  and  Mary  Van 
Allen,  who  died  July  25,  1801,  aged  9  months  and  27 
days. 

Sleep  on,  sweet  babe,  and  take  thy  rest, 

Thou  art  early  called,  God’s  time  is  best. 

George,  son  of  the  above  died  Feb.  3,  1802,  aged  B  years 
and  7  months. 

1797,  Dec.  30,  John  Van  Allen  died,  aged  63  years 
and  3  months. 

1799,  Oct.  1,  Barent  Van  Allen  died,  61  years  and  3 
days. 

Mary  Van  Allen,  obit  30th  Oct.  1805,  aged  56  years  and 
4  months. 

Maria  Dunbar,  wife  of  Simon  Van  Antwerp,  who  died 
April  11,  1826,  aged  67  years. 

Elizabeth  Fryer,  wife  of  Peter  Van  Bergen,  who  died 
Dec.  11,  1848,  aged  82  years  and  11  months. 

Calm  on  the  bosom  of  thy  God, 

Blest  spirit,  rest  thee,  now. 

Henry  Van  Woert,  son  of  H.  B.  V.  Benthuisen,  who 
died  May  29,  1813,  aged  6  years  and  8  months. 

Ann  Eliza,  daughter  of  H.  B.  V.  Benthuisen,  who  died 
May  26,  1813,  aged  8  years,  7  months  and  15  days. 

Mrs.  K.  V.  D.  Bergh,  who  departed  this  life  the  27th 
Feb.  1796,  in  the  76th  year  of  her  age. 

Sacred  to  the  memory  of  Emma  G.  Van  Bnren,  daughter 
of  Peter  and  Mary  Van  Bnren,  who  died  suddenly 
April  21,  1844,  aged  13  years,  8  months  and  21  days. 

Catharine  M.,  wife  of  S.  G.  Van  Buren,  died  April  26, 
1848.  in  the  30th  year  of  her  age.  Also  their  infant 
daughter  Anna  Jane  Sophia. 

As  the  flower  withers  from  its  stem,  so  our 
strength  decays,  chilled  by  the  hand  of  death 
we  fall.  But,  living  still,  we  shall  rise. again 
as  the  Sun  of  Righteousness  returns  to  breathe 
upon  our  soul  the  quickening  spirit  of  everlast¬ 
ing  life. 


184  Ref.  Trot.  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions. 

In  memory  of  John  Van  Bergen. 

In  memory  of  Benjamin  Van  Benthuysen,  who  died 
March  3,  1843,  in  the  70th  year  of  his  age. 

Susan  Evertsen,  wife  of  Benjamin  Van  Benthuysen,  who 
died  June  22,  1837,  aged  51  years,  9  months  and  8  days. 

Henry  Van  Benthuysen,  who  died  June  8,  1834,  aged  72. 

Cathalina  Ilunn,  wife  of  Henry  Van  Benthuysen,  who 
died  August  13,  1841,  aged  79. 

In  memory  of  Abraham,  son  of  Winant  and  Mary  Van 
Denburgh,  who  died  Feb.  28,  1811,  aged  20  years,  9 
months  and  22  days. 

Affliction  sore  long  time  he  bore, 

Physicians  all  in  vain, 

Till  God  did  please,  and  death  did  seize, 

To  ease  him  of  his  pain. 

Mary  Hickson,  late  widow  of  Winant  Van  Denburgh, 
who  died  June  22,  1846,  in  the  80th  year  of  her  age. 

Alas,  our  mother  now  is  gone, 

Her  Saviour  has  bid  her  to  come  home, 

She  left  the  world  without  a  tear, 

Save  for  the  friends  she  held  so  dear. 

Eliza  Ann  Stivers,  wife  of  Richard  Vandenburg,  died 
Jan.  3,  1842,  in  the  46th  year  of  her  age. 

A  loving  wife,  a  tender  mother, 

A  Christian  true  this  stone  discover, 

Faithful  and  patient,  chaste  in  love, 

Dead  to  this  wmrld  but  lives  above. 

William  H..  son  of  Wm.  I.,  and  Catharine  Vandenburgh, 
died  Feb.  17,  1829,  in  the  2nd  year  of  his  age. 

Suffer  little  children  to  come  unto  me  and  forbid 
them  not,  for  of  such  is  the  kingdom  of  God. 

Catharine,  wife  of  Wm.  Van  Denbergh,  who  departed 
this  life  August  25,  1848,  aged  53  years. 

Eliza  Matilda  Vanderpool,  daughter  of  John  and  Rachel 
Vanderpool,  who  died  March  13,  1816,  aged  3  years, 
6  months  and  9  days. 

Sacred  to  the  memory  of  Charles  Vandervoort,  consort 
of  Eliza  Stanly,  who  departed  this  life  Feb.  12,  1818, 
in  the  24th  year  of  his  age.  He  was  a  dutiful  son,  an 


Ref.  Prof.  Butch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions.  185 

affectionate  husband,  a  tender  father,  a  kind  brother, 
and  sincere  friend ;  in  life  beloved  and  in  death  lamented. 

In  memory  of  Hannah  Van  Derzee,  wife  of  Jeremiah 
Waterman,  who  departed  this  life  12th  Jan.  1818, 
aged  24  years,  8  months  and  5  days. 

It,  is  the  Lord  enthroned  in  light 
Whose  claims  are  all  divine; 

Who  has  an  undisputed  right 
To  govern  me  and  mine. 

Getty  Van  Dusen,  died  Nov.  29,  1837,  aged  57  years,  3 
months  and  21  days. 

Elizabeth  Van  Dusen,  died  in  her  46th  year. 

James  Van  Kleeck,  who  departed  this  life  Nov.  26,  1822, 
aged  35  years. 

In  memory  of  two  male  children  of  Lawrence  L.,  and 
Alida  Van  Kleeck. 

Ere  sin  could  blast  or  sorrow  fade 
Death  came  with  friendly  care; 

The  opening  buds  to  heaven  conveyed 
And  bid  them  blossom  there. 

J.  B.  Van  Schaack,  died  Jan.  3,  1839,  aged  35  years. 

This  monument  is  in  memory  of  one  who  was 
the  delight  of  his  family  and  fiiends.  And 
during  a  career  brief  but  brilliant,  established 
an  enviable  reputation  as  a  poet,  a  scholar  and 
an  orator. 

In  memory  of  Nicholas  Van  Schaack,  who  died  Sept.  22, 
1831,  in  the  30th  year  of  his  age. 

How  blest  is  our  brother,  bereft 
Of  all  that  could  burden  his  mind; 

How  easy  the  soul  that  has  left 
This  wearisome  body  behind. 

Ann  Linacre,  wife  of  Nicholas  Van  Schaack,  who  de¬ 
parted  this  life  August  21,  1828,  aged  19  years,  11 
months  and  1  day. 

A  loving  wife,  a  tender  mother, 

A  Christian  true  this  stone  discover, 

Faithful  and  patient,  chaste  in  love, 

Dead  to  this  world  but  lives  above. 

Sacred  to  the  memory  of  Cornelius  Van  Schelluyne  who 


186  Ref.  Prot.  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions. 

departed  this  life  April  13,  1813,  in  the  74th  year  of 
his  age. 

In  memory  of  Elizabeth  Roseboom,  wife  of  Cornelius 
Van  Schelluyne,  who  departed  this  life  the  18th  day 
of  March,  1800,  aged  57  years,  9  months  apd  18  days. 

Beneath  this  tomb  is  deposited  the  remains  of  Gose  Van 
Schaick,  he  died  the  4th  day  of  July,  1789,  aged  53  y. 

Removed  from  the  family  burying  ground  in  Court  street,  on  the 
first  Dec.  1808. 

Nicholas  Van  Schaack,  son  of  Cornelius  Van  Schaack, 
who  departed  this  life  Oct.  2,  1799,  aged  13  years,  4 
months  and  27  days. 

Affliction  sore  long  time  he  bore, 

Physicians’  art  was  vain, 

Till  God  did  please  to  give  him  ease, 

And  to  relieve  his  pain. 

In  memory  of  John  Van  Schaick,  who  departed  this  life 
the  1st  March,  1820,  aged  46  years  and  2  months. 

In  memory  of  Maria  Van  Schaick,  relict  of  Wessel  Van 
Schaick,  who  died  Jan.  31,  1797,  aged  79  years  and 
7  months. 

The  tomb  of  Mary  Van  Schaick,  widow  of  General  G. 
Van  Schaick,  born  in  New  Brunswick,  August  11, 
1750,  died  in  Albany,  Jan.  15,  1829,  aged  78  years, 
5  months  and  4  days. 

The  grave  of  Abraham  Van  Schaick,  son  of  the  late 
General  Gosen  Van  Schaick,  born  July  28,  1787,  aged 
40  vears  and  11  davs. 

•J  V 

In  memory  of  Maria  Van  Schaick,  eldest  daughter  of 
Wessel  and  Maria  Van  Schaick,  deceased,  who  died 
10th  day  of  August,  1813,  aged  67  years  and  22  days. 

Come  ye  angelic  envoys  come, 

And  lead  the  willing  pilgrim  home, 

Ye  know  the  way  to  Jesus  throne, 

Source  of  her  joys  and  of  your  own. 

In  memory  of  Maria  Van  Schaick,  who  departed  this 
life  Feb.  17,  1825,  aged  54  years,  9  months,  15  days. 

Ah,  whither  hath  her  spirit  fled! 

And  do  we  ponder  where  ? 

To  the  arms  of  Jesus  hath  it  fled, 

The  God  she  loved  so  dear. 


Ref.  Prot.  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions.  187 

In  memory  of  Egbert  Van  Schaick,  who  died  May  31, 
1816,  aged  52  years,  1  month  and  25  days. 

Anna  Van  Schaick,  daughter  of  John  and  Elizabeth  Van 
Schaick,  who  died  March  28,  1828,  aged  1  year,  6  mos. 
and  14  days. 

Thy  gentle  spirit  now  is  fled, 

Thy  body  in  its  earthly  bed, 

Is  laid  in  peaceful  sleep. 

A  spirit  good  and  pure  as  thine. 

Blest  in  immortal  scenes  can  shine, 

Though  friends  are  left  to  weep. 

In  memory  of  Rebecca  Van  Ness,  wife  of  Cornelius  Van 
Schoonhoven,  who  died  28th  day  of  Feb.  1809,  aged  29 
years  and  20  days. 

In  memory  of  Cornelius  Van  Schoonhoven,  died  July  4, 
1828,  aged  60  years,  11  months  and  8  days. 

Hier  Rust  Elisabet  E.,  dogter  van  I.  Van  Swoll,  geboren 
den  11  February,  1852,  gestorven  den  14  Maart,  1853. 

In  memory  of  Tennis  I.  Van  Vechten,  died  Dec.  7,  1817, 
aged  68  years,  7  months  and  2  days. 

In  memory  of  Elizabeth  Van  Vechten,  relict  of  Tunis 
Van  Vechten,  died  Dec.  1,  1831,  aged  77  years,  11 
months  and  14  days, 

In  memory  of  Samuel  Van  Vechten,  died  30th  March, 
1814,  aged  23  years,  3  months  and  25  days. 

How  solid  all,  where  change  shall  be  no  more. 

In  memory  of  Abraham  0.  Van  Vechten,  son  of  Walter 
and  Catharine  Van  Veghten  who  died  13th  Jan.  1816*. 
aged  15  years,  8  months  and  8  days. 

In  memory  of  Anna  Van  Vechten,  died  May  31,  1817 
aged  34  years,  6  months  and  24  days. 

Believe,  and  look  with  triumph  on  the  tomb. 

Orville  Augustus,  son  of  J.  T.  B.,  and  Caroline  C.  V am 
Vechten,  obit  31st  May,  1826,  aged  1  mo.  and  29  days. 

To  the  memory  of  Abraham  Van  Vechten,  obit  Jan.  6, 
1837,  aged  74  years,  1  month  and  1  day. 

In  memory  of  Catharine  Van  Vechten,  wife  of  Abraham 
Van  Vechten,  obit  10th  Sept.  1820,  aged  54  years,  5> 
months  and  18  days. 

[Annals,  16.] 


17 


188  Ref.  Prof.  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions. 

Judith  Van  Vechten,  obit  27th  June,  1825,  aged  22 
years,  1  month  and  5  days. 

Cornelius,  son  of  Walter  and  Anna  Van  Veghten,  died 
July  14,  1814,  aged  11  days. 

Orville  Augustus,  son  of  J.  T.  B.  and  Caroline  C.  Van 
Vechten,  obit  31st  July,  1831,  aged  11  months  and 
24  days. 

In  remembrance  of  Samuel  A.  Van  Vechten,  obit  14th 
Dec.  1824,  M.,  30  years,  16  days. 

To  the  memory  of  Jacob  T.  B.  Van  Vechten,  obit  Jan. 
20,  1841,  aged  39  years,  8  months  and  10  days. 

In  memory  of  Philip  Van  Vechten,  son  of  Abraham  Van 
Vechten  and  Catharine  Schuyler,  died  Feb.  14,  1814, 
aged  27  years  and  7  months. 

Anthony  Van  Santvoord,  died  Feb.  17,  1852,  aged  90 
years,  5  months  and  3  days. 

My  dearest  friends  I  leave  in  tears 
For  we  shall  meet  on  earth  no  more, 

I  trust  through  grace  we’ll  sweetly  meet 
On  Canaan’s  calm  and  pleasant  shore. 

Mary  Roff,  his  wife,  died  Nov.  16,  1800,  aged  33  years, 
11  months  and  19  days. 

John,  their  son,  died  March  1,  1811,  aged  22  years,  4 
months  and  16  days. 

In  memory  of  Rachel  Groesbeck,  wife  of  Anthony  Van 
Santvoord,  who  departed  this  life  in  the  middle  Dutch 
Church,  the  8th  day  of  March,  1835,  aged  60  years,  2 
months  and  3  days. 

While  seated  in  the  house  of  God, 

To  worship  him  she  loved, 

He  called  her  from  his  house  below, 

To  worship  him  above. 

In  memory  of  Jane  Van  Wie,  widow  of  William  Van 
Wie,  who  died  July  19,  1821,  in  the  76th  year  of  her 
age. 

O  happy  dead  in  thee  that  sleep, 

Which  o’er  their  mould’ring  dust  to  weep, 

O  faithful  Saviour  who  shall  come, 

That  dust  to  ransom  from  the  tomb. 


lief.  Prot.  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions.  189 

Magdalene  Bogart,  wife  of  Benjamin  Van  Wie,  died 
April  9,  1844,  aged  67  years. 

Benjamin  Van  Wie,  died  June  9,  1837,  aged  62  years. 

In  memory  of  Philip  Van  Wie,  who  departed  this  life 
29th  of  July,  in  the  76th  year  of  his  age. 

Weep  not  for  me,  my  dearest  friends, 

Or  shrink  at  death’s  alarms; 

’Tis  but  the  voice  that  Jesus  sends 
To  call  us  to  his  arms. 

In  memory  of  Henry  Van  Woert,  an  old  revolutionary 
officer,  who  died  on  the  5th  Feb.  1813,  aged  65  years 
and  10  months. 

Catharine  Van  Woert,  widow  of  Henry  Van  Woert,  who 
died  Oct.  3,  1825,  aged  75  years. 

Sarah  Hilton,  who  died  on  the  13tli  Dec.  1830,  aged  83 
years,  5  months  and  20  days.  Wife  of  Rykart  Van 
Zandt. 

Henry  Van  Woert,  wTho  departed  this  life  the  21st  day 
of  June,  1814,  aged  30  years. 

Jacobus  Van  Zandt,  who  died  8th  Nov.  1795,  aged  62 
years,  11  months  and  19  days. 

Mary  Van  Zandt,  relict  of  Jacobus  Van  Zandt,  died  the 
29th  May,  1814,  aged  75  years. 

Joseph  H.  Van  Zandt,  died  March  9,  1836,  aged  64 
years. 

Sacred  to  the  memory  of  Gitty  Veeder. 

Hannah  Weeks,  wife  of  Alexander  Vedder,  who  died 
Jan.  24,  1813,  aged  35  years,  1  month  and  24  days. 

God  gently  moved  her  to  that  peaceful  shore, 

Where  pleasure  reigns  and  anguish  is  no  more, 

If  worth  departed  e’er  deserved  a  tear, 

Sacred  to  merit,  pay  the  tribute  here. 

In  memory  of  Elizabeth  Schuyler,  the  wife  of  James  Van 
Ingen.  She  died  on  the  28th  day  of  Feb.  1801,  aged  29 
vears. 

V 

In  memory  of  Catharine  Bleecker,  the  wife  of  James 
Van  Ingen.  She  died  on  the  4th  day  of  April,  1798, 
aged  29  years. 

Peter  S.  Van  Ingen,  obit  3d  August,  1809,  aged  1  year 
6  months. 


190  Ref.  Trot.  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions. 

Margaret  Van  Ingen,  daughter  of  James  and  Gertrude 
Van  Ingen,  who  died  Sept.  26,  1810,  aged  1  year,  1 
month  and  6  days. 

In  memory  of  Hannah,  wife  of  Jacob  I.  Vosburgh,  who 
departed  this  life  May  10,  1848,  aged  82  years,  5  mos. 
and  14  days. 

We  all  do  fade  as  a  leaf. 

In  memory  of  Casparus  Van  Wie,  who  died  March  17, 
1818,  aged  75  years,  4  months  and  6  days. 

In  memory  of  Jane,  wife  of  Casparus  Van  Wie,  who  de¬ 
parted  this  life  August  16,  1815,  aged  75  years,  8  mos. 
and  28  days. 

Rachel  Van  Wie,  died  July  25,  1842,  aged  65  years,  9 
months  and  2  days. 

In  memory  of  Margaret  Van  Wie,  wife  of  Garret  W. 
Van  Wie,  who  departed  this  life  May  22,  1808,  aged 
28  years,  1  month  and  16  days. 

In  memory  of  Andrew  Van  Woert,  eldest  son  of  Henry 
and  Catharine  Van  Woert,  who  died  the  27th  Sept. 
1798,  aged  25  years  and  2  months. 

He  came  forth  as  a  flower  and  was  cut  down. 

Peter  Van  Vechtcn,  son  of  Tunis  Ts.  Van  Vechten,  and 
Elizabeth  his  wife,  who  departed  this  life  3d  June, 
1795,  aged  14  years,  10  months  and  24  days. 

Judeth  Van  Vechten,  eldest  daughter  of  Abraham  Van 
Vechten  and  Catharine  Schuyler,  obit  July  27,  1799, 
aged  14  years,  4  months  and  18  days. 

Come,  ye  angelic  envoys,  come, 

And  lead  the  willing  pilgrim  home, 

Ye  know  the  way  to  Jesus’  throne, 

Source  of  her  joys  and  of  your  own. 

Judeth  Van  Vechten,  the  second  daughter  of  Abraham 
Van  Vechten  and  Catharine  Schuyler,  obit  6tli  June, 
1800,  aged  12  years. 

Mopia  Harriet  Van  Vechten,  daughter  of  Abraham  and 
Catharine  Van  Vechten,  obit  March  16,  1806,  aged 
6  months  and  16  days. 

Gertrude  Van  Vechten,  daughter  of  Abraham  and  Catha- 


Ref.  Prot.  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions .  191 

rine  Van  Vechten,  who  died  Feb.  25,  1794,  aged  11 
months  and  11  days.  , 

Harmanus  Van  Vechten,  son  of  Abraham  and  Catharine 
Schuyler  Van  Vechten,  obit  29th  March,  1802,  aged  5> 
years  and  3  months. 

Gerrit  Van  Sant,  who  departed  this  life  on  the  15th  day 
of  July,  1806,  aged  75  years,  6  months  and  14  days. 
And  Hester  Winne,  relict  of  Gerrit  Van  Sant,  who 
departed  this  life  on  the  24th  day  of  August,  1813, 
aged  81  years,  8  months  and  10  days. 

Removed  from  Arbor  Hill  burying  ground,  June  10,  1845. 

Hester  Van  Zandt,  wife  of  George  Stanford,  who  died 
Aug.  8,  1726,  aged  49  years,  8  months  and  3  days,  also 
of  their  infant  son,  Joseph  R.  Van  Zandt  Hardford, 
who  died  Jan.  23,  1826,  aged  4  years  and  3  months. 

In  memory  of  Rykart  Van  Zandt,  who  departed  this  life 
June  6,  1814,  aged  78  years,  6  months  and  16  days. 

Tunis  A.  Van  Vechten,  son  of  Abraham  Van  Vechten 
and  Catharine  Schuyler,  died  April  3,  1811,  aged  23 
years,  3  months  and  17  days. 

Maria  Veeder,  daughter  of  Volkert  S.  and  Ann  Veeder, 
who  departed  this  life  13th  June,  1803. 

Anne  Veeder,  daughter  of  Volkert  S.  and  Ann  Veeder, 
who  departed  this  life  August  24,  1797,  aged  2  years 
and  12  davs, 

Anne,  daughter  of  Volkert  S.  and  Ann  Veeder,  who  de¬ 
parted  this  life  July  9,  1795,  aged  17  months. 

Peter  Visscher,  son  of  Henry  and  Rebeccah  Visscher, 
who  departed  this  life  August  19,  1807,  aged  10  years, 
1  month  and  20  days. 

Jesu3  the  Lord,  our  souls  adore, 

A  painful  sufferer’s  now  no  more, 

His  race  for  ever  is  complete, 

Forever  understand  his  seat. 

Garret  G.  Visscher,  son  of  Garret  T.  Visscher,  who  de¬ 
parted  this  life  the  13th  of  Dec.  1799,  aged  27  years, 
3  months  and  12  days. 

It  ’tis  well. 

Rebecca  Brooks,  late  consort  of  Garret  G.  Visscher,  who 


192  Ref.  Prot.  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions . 

departed  this  life  Dec.  4,  1804,  aged  30  years,  l  month 
and  19  days. 

In  memory  of  Alida  Visscher,  daughter  of  John  V.  S., 
and  Elenor  Visscher,  who  departed  this  life  on  the 
26th  day  of  Oct.  1852,  in  the  3 1st  year  of  her  age. 

Mourn  not  for  me,  dear  friends. 

Nor  shake  at  death’s  alarms, 

’Tis  but  a  voice  that  Jesus  sends 
To  call  us  to  his  arms. 

Rachel  Van  Denburgh,  wife  of  Garret  T.  Visscher,  who 
departed  this  life  the  5th  Oct.  1799,  aged  49  years, 
12th  inst. 

Bastiaen  T.  Visscher,  obit  9th  May,  1809,  aged  81  years. 
1  month  and  9  days. 

Removed. 

Angeltie,  his  wife,  obit  Nov.  1789,  in  the  60th  year  of 
her  age. 

Here  lieth  Matthew  Visscher,  son  of  Garret  Marselus 
and  Machtel  Visscher  his  wife,  obit  27th  August,  1806, 
aged  7  years,  11  months  and  27  days. 

In  memory  of  Garret  T.  Visscher,  who  departed  this 
life  Jan.  5,  1805,  aged  66  years,  10  months  and  29 
days. 

To  the  memory  of  Rebeccah,  wife  of  the  late  Henry 
Visscher,  who  departed  this  life  Dec.  31,  1832,  in  the 
57th  year  of  her  age. 

In  memory  of  Sarah  Visscher,  widow  of  Barent  Visscher, 
who  died  August  22,  1822,  aged  80  years,  11  months 
and  10  days. 

Sacred  to  the  memory  of  John  B.  Visscher,  who  died 
April  13,  1825,  aged  55  years,  7  months  and  9  days. 

Accept,  dear  shade,  the  tribute  of  a  tear, 

’Tis  all  poor  mortals  have  to  offer  here, 

It  was  thy  wrorth,  which  caused  these  tears  to  flow', 
It  was  thy  goodness  made  affliction  grow, 

In  all  our  sorrows  let  our  hopes  be  this, 

That  thou  hast  changed  a  mortal  tor  eternal  bliss. 

John  Van  Schaick,  son  of  John  V.  S.,  and  Elanor 
Visscher,  who  died  Nov.  18,  1835,  aged  1  year,  6  mos. 
and  26  days. 


Ref.  Prot.  Dutch  Bwial  Ground  Inscriptions.  193 

Adlen,  son  of  H.  and  T.  Visser,  who  died  Sept.  1,  1854, 
aged  8  months. 

Slaap  Zacht. 

Sacred  to  the  memory  of  Teaunis  G.  Visscher,  who  de¬ 
parted  this  life  June  19,  1829,  aged  64  years  and  25 
days.  Also  two  infants:  Alieda,  aged  1  year,  2  months 
and  26  days;  Christopher  Lansing,  aged  1  year,  1  mo. 
and  2  days. 

In  memory  of  Alida  Visscher,  wife  of  Teunis  G.  Viss¬ 
cher,  who  died  Dec.  4,  1848,  aged  80  years,  3  months 
and  20  days.  Also  two  sons:  James,  died  June  23, 
1830,  aged  27  years,  6  months  and  1  day;  Lansing, 
died  Sept.  21,  1840,  aged  43  years,  6  months  and  4 
days. 

Mary  Kane,  wife  of  W.  Voorhees,  died  August  11,  1840, 
in  her  69th  year. 

William,  son  of  John  and  Catharine  S.  Vosburgh,  died 
Oct.  25,  1840,  aged  10  months  and  20  days. 

Neeltje  Maaitje  Waling,  overleden  den  28  Nov.  1848, 
inden  ouderdom  van  5  jaar  25  dagen. 

Burr  Wakeman,  formerly  of  Weston,  state  of  Ct.,  who 
died  August  20,  1832. 

Samuel  Waterman,  who  departed  this  life  Feb.  7,  1826, 
in  the  32d  year  of  his  age. 

John  B.  Washburn,  who  departed  this  life  April  27, 
1825,  aged  39  years. 

Jane  Wendell,  daughter  of  John  and  Cathalina  Wendell, 
who  departed  this  life  Nov.  24,  1793,  aged  1  year, 
9  months  and  21  days. 

H.  C.  Wendell,  who  died  July  6,  1837,  aged  56  years. 

Sacred  to  the  memory  of  Sarah  Wendell,  widow  of 
Philip  Wendell,  who  departed  this  life  on  the  20th  day 
of  April.  1830,  aged  58  years,  2  months  and  14  days. 

In  memory  of  John  II.  Wendell,  who  departed  this  life 
July  10,  1832,  aged  80  years. 

How  happy  are  the  souls  above 
From  sin  and  sorrow  free; 

With  Jesus  they  are  now  at  rest 
And  all  his  glory  see. 


194  Ref.  Prot.  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions. 

In  memory  of  Cathalina  Van  Benthuysen,  consort  of 
General  John  H.  Wendell,  who  departed  this  life  on 
the  first  day  of  Jan.  1817,  aged  55  years,  11  months 
and  10  days. 

While  on  the  verge  of  life  I  stand, 

And  view  the  scene  on  either  hand, 

My  spirit  struggles  with  my  clay, 

And  longs  to  wing  its  flight  away. 

Where  Jesus  dwells  my  soul  would  be. 

And  fains  my  much  loved  Lord  to  see, 

Earth  twine  no  more  about  my  heart, 

For  ’t is  far  better  to  depart. 

Come,  ye  angelic  envoys,  come, 

And  lead  the  willing  pilgrim  home. 

Ye  know  the  way  to  Jesus1  throne, 

Source  of  my  joys  and  of  your  own. 

Sacred  to  the  memory  of  Harman  Wendell,  son  of  John 
H.  and  Cathalina  Wendell,  who  departed  this  life  on 
the  11th  day  of  July,  1810,  aged  20  years,  5  months 
and  1 1  days. 

To  this  sad  shrine,  whoe’er  thou  art,  draw  near, 

And  shed  a  silent,  sympathetic  tear; 

Here  sleeps  the  ashes  of  a  duteous  son 

Whose  gen’rous  soul  made  virtue’s  wrongs  his  own; 

Pious,  serene,  beneficent  and  kind, 

He  lived  respected,  and  he  died  resigned, 

His  weeping  relatives  their  loss  deplore, 

Alas!  their  joy,  their  solace  is  no  more. 

No  more!  O  yes,  he  lives,  and  seems  to  say, 

Come,  kindred  iriends,  come  hither,  haste  away; 

Parents,  dry  up  your  tears,  your  grief  restrain; 

Sisters  and  brothers,  weep,  but  not  complain. 

Go,  reader,  go;  be  merciful  and  kind; 

Love  God  and  man,  and  happiness  you’ll  find. 

Harmanus  A.  Wendell,  who  died  on  the  15th  day  of 
July,  A,  D.,  1819,  aged  75  years,  2  months  and  9  days. 

Jane  Maria  Wendell,  daughter  of  John  and  Catharine 
Wendell,  who  departed  this  life  the  23d  day  of  August, 
1798,  aged  1  year,  9  months  and  23  days. 

Here  are  deposited  the  remains  of  Maria  Wendell,  daugh¬ 
ter  of  Harmanus  I.  and  Barbara  Wendell.  She  died  the 
26th  day  of  Dec.  1828,  in  the  55th  year  of  her  age. 


Ref.  Prot.  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions.  195 

Catharine  Wendell,  daughter  of  Jacob  H.  Wendell  and 
Gertrude  Lansing,  who  died  Dec.  11,  1813,  aged  24 
years  and  10  months. 

Here  rests  a  female,  good  without  pretence, 

Blest  with  plain  reason  and  with  sober  sense; 
Passion  and  pride  were  to  her  soul  unknown, 
Convinced  that  virtue  only  is  our  own. 

David  P,  Winne,  born  Feb.  12,  1779,  died  June  6,  1843. 

Rachel  Winne,  born  August  9th  1782,  died  April  13th, 
1849. 

Mary  Winne,  daughter  of  David  P.  and  Rachel  Winne; 
she  departed  this  life  March  7,  1817,  aged  3  years,  2 
months  and  21  days.  *  * 

Cornelius,  son  of  David  P.  and  Rachel  Winne,  died  Sept. 
22,  1819. 

Here  are  deposited  the  remains  of  Barbara  Wendell,  re¬ 
lict  of  Harmanus  1.  Wendell,  she  died  on  the  30th 
day  of  April  [Obliterated.] 

Elizabeth  Wendell,  wife  of  Barnard  Staats,who  departed 
this  life  [Obliterated.] 

Sacred  to  the  memory  of  Philip  Van  Vecliten  Wendell, 
son  of  Harmanus  A.,  and  Catharine  Wendell,  who 
died  Oct.  21,  A.  D.,  1816,  aged  26  years,  4  months  and 
23  days.  * 

Here  are  deposited  the  remains  of  Ann  Wendell,  daughter 
of  Harmanus  Wendell.  She  died  the  8th  day  of  Jan. 

1829,  in  the  62d  year  of  her  age. 

Rebecca  V.  Z.,  daughter  of  John  D.  W.  and  Julia  Wem- 
ple,  died  June  27,  1838,  aged  17  months  and  19  days. 

Gertrude  Wendell,  relict  of  Jacob  II.  Wendell,  who  died 
on  the  18tli  May,  1827,  aged  68  years,  8  months  and 
18  days. 

Jacob  II.  Wendell,  who  died  on  the  23d  March,  1826, 
aged  71  years,  5  months  and  2  days. 

Caroline  Fidelia  Welsh,  daughter  of  Samuel  Welsh  and 
grand  daughter  of  George  W.  Welsh,  who  died  Dec.  9, 

1830,  aged  2  years,  8  months  and  14  days. 

William  Henry,  son  of  Peter  I.  and  Maria  Wemple,  who 
died  Feb.  20,  1833,  aged  4  months  and  18  days. 


196  Ref.  Prot.  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions. 

Elizabeth,  wife  of  Jeremiah  Whalen,  born  March  18, 
1785,  died  April  27,  1848. 

Charlotte  Agusta  Whitney,  born  Dec.  27,  1831,  died  Jan. 
27,  1832,  aged  13  months. 

Stephen  Whitney,  born  August  18,  1833,  died  Sept.  18, 
1834,  aged  16  months. 

Henry  Z.  Whitney,  born  August  4,  1825.  died  Oct.  8, 
1847. 

Armenia  Whitney,  wife  of  William  Whitney,  born 
March  14,  1802,  died  August  16,  1852. 

Calm  and  sweet  be  her  rest, 

Till  he  bids  her  arise, 

To  welcome  her  loved  ones. 

In  yonder  bright  skies. 

William  Whitney,  born  Dec.  14,  1820,  died  March  6, 
1854. 

E  Pluribus  (76)  Unum. 

Walter  Whitney,  died  July  18,  1846,  in  the  87th  year 
of  his  age.  Anah,  wife  of  Walter  Whitney,  died  Jan. 
30,  1845,  in  the  86th  year  of  her  age. 

Edward  Willett,  who  departed  this  life  April  23,  1810, 
aged  59  years  and  5  months. 

John  Fryer  Willett,  who  departed  this  life  Sept.  21, 
1806,  aged  21  years,  9  months  and  28  days. 

Edward  Willett,  born  Oct.  12,  1786,  died  May  14,  1815, 
Margaret  Cooper,  wife  of  Edward  Willett,  born  24th 
Dec.  1788,  died  July  29,  1846. 

Ann  Eliza,  daughter  of  Edward  and  Margaret  Willett, 
born  March  31,  1808,  died  Feb.  26,  1847. 

Sarah,  widow  of  Edward  S.  Willet,  who  departed  this 
life  Dec.  30,  1831,  aged  70  years,  10  months  and  8 
days. 

Cathaline,  wife  of  Elbert  Willett,  died  May  15,  1823, 
aged  88  years  and  1 1  months. 

At  length,  the  Christian’s  race  is  run, 

A  glorious  prize  he  now  has  won, 

With  the  angelic  hosts  now  fixed, 

In  joy  continued  and  unmixed. 

Edward  S.  Willett,  jr.,  born  Oct.  23,  1838,  died  June 


Ref.  Prot.  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions.  197 

26,  1842;  John  C.  Willett,  born  March  22,  1842, 
died  June  8,  1841;  Sarah  Willett,  born  April  1,  1845, 
died  April  17,  1845,  children  of  Edward  andElizabeth 
Willett. 

Daniel  Winne,  who  departed  this  life  the  4th  Jan.  1819, 
aged  49  years  and  22  daj^s. 

Be  ye  also  ready,  for  in  such  an  hour  as  ye  think 
not  the  son  of  man  cometh. 

Maria,  wife  of  Levinus  Winne,  who  departed  this  life 
March  29,  1824,  in  the  77th  year  of  her  age. 

David  D.  Winne,  son  of  £)aniel  D.  and  Mary  Ann  Winne, 
died  April  31,  1832,  aged  2  years,  1  month  and  19 
days.  Also,  Rachel  Ann  Winne,  daughter  of  Daniel 
D.  and  Mary  Ann  Winne,  died  Dec.  9,  1839,  aged  1 
year,  2  months  and  9  days. 

Levinus  Winne,  who  departed  this  life  Dec.  6,  1825,  in 
the  81st  year  of  his  age. 

Ann  Eliza,  wife  of  Win.  B,  Winne,  who  died  Oct.  28, 
1849,  in  the  37th  year  of  her  age. 

Charles  Agustus,  died  April  29,  1846,  in  his  5th  year. 
Also  Ann  Eliza,  died  Feb.  12,  1850,  in  her  4th  year. 
Children  of  Ann  Eliza  and  Wm.  B.  Winne. 

Sarah,  wife  of  John  W.  Winne,  and  daughter  of  William 
and  Rebecca  Diamond,  who  departed  this  life  Nov. 
15,  1830,  aged  23  )^ears,  11  months  and  9  days. 

Tho’  low  in  earth  her  beauteous  form  decayed, 

My  faithful  wife,  my  loved  Sarah  is  laid, 

To  name  her  virtue  ill  befits  by  grief, 

What  was  my  bliss  can  now  give  no  relief, 

A  husband  moui ns,  the  rest  let  friendship  tell, 

Fame  spreads  her  worth  a  husband  knew  it  well. 

Myndert  Winne,  who  departed  this  life  April  18,  1831, 
aged  24  years,  11  months  and  18  days. 

In  memory  of  Cornelius  S.  Winne,  who  departed  this 
life  Dec.  27,  1825,  aged  33  years,  10  months  and  5 
days. 

Mrs.  Iluldah  Wilson,  died  Sept.  3,  1841,  aged  36  years. 

Anna  E.  B.  WickofF,  born  August  27,  1822,  died  May  12, 
1845. 

Blessed  are  the  dead  which  die  in  the  Lord. 


4 


198  Ref.  Prot.  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions. 

Iluldah  Witt,  daughter  of  Andrew  and  Mary  Witt,  of 
Chester,  Mass.,  who  died  Sept.  22,  1813,  aged  19  years, 
3  months  and  24  days. 

Daniel  Wood,  died  March  13,  1836,  aged  73  years. 

In  life  he  kept  the  faith,  and  died  in  hope. 

Hannah  Woodbury,  who  died  April  6,  1845,  aged  73 
years. 

Her  end  was  peace. 

Eunice  Woodbury,  who  died  February  9,  1848,  aged  42 
years. 

Capt.  Samuel  T.  Woodhall,  jr.,  of  Wading  rivei'j  Long 
Island,  died  August  14,  1834,  aged  23  years,  3  months 
and  3  days. 

Here  lies  the  body  of  Jacobus  Wynkoop,  who  departed 
this  life  the  4th  of  May,  1795,  aged  74  years. 

You  that  pass  by,  behold  the  scene  and  weep, 

Beneath  a  father  and  mother  sleep. 

True,  as  the  scripture  says, -man’s  life’s  a  span-, 

The  present  moment  is  the  life  of  man. 

Alida,  wife  of  Mr.  Jacob  Wynkoop,  who  departed  this 
life  Oct.  16,  1794,  aged  58  years  and  5  days. 

James  I.  Wynkoop,  departed  this  life  April  25,  1843,  in 
the  52d  year  of  his  age. 

Blessed  are  the  dead  who  die  in  the  Lord. 

Cathalina  Wynkoop,  who  died  June  15,  1838,  aged  68 
years. 

Blessed  are  the  dead  who  die  in  the  Lord. 

This  was  erected  by  her  son  Robert. 

Daniel  Yates,  who  departed  this  life  June  29,  1802,  aged 
27  years,  9  months  and  20  days. 

Judeth  Yates,  who  departed  this  life  Feb.  5,  1805,  aged 
77  years,  11  months  and  28  days. 

Anne  Yates,  wTife  of  Abraham  I.  Yates,  who  departed  this 
life  Nov.  22,  1804,  'aged  70  years,  9  months  and  25 
days. 

Sarah  Yates,  daughter  of  Christopher  A.  Yates,  who 
died  6th  day  of  Feb,  1794,  aged  22  years,  1  month  and 
21  days. 


Ref.  Prof.  Dutch  Burial  Ground  Inscriptions.  199 

Catharine  Yates,  who  died  the  16th  day  of  March,  1791, 
aged  52  years,  3  months  and  24  days. 

Christopher  A.  Yates,  who  died  the  8th  day  of  Nov. 
1809,  in  the  7 1st  year  of  his  age. 

Sacred  to  the  memory  of  Rachel  Van  Zandt,  widow  of 
Henry  Yates,  who  departed  this  life  April  5, 1846,  aged 
80  years,  7  months  and  27  days. 

Sarah  A.  M.  J.  Yates,  who  departed  this  life  Feb.  10, 
in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1805,  aged  71  years,  1  month 
and  24  days. 

Hosanna  to  that  sovereign  power  that  new  creates  our  dust. 

The  body  of  Mrs.  Mary  Yates,  wife  of  Peter  W.  Yates, 
Esq.,  lies  here  entombed.  She  died  on  23d  day  of 
Nov.,  An.  Horn.  1794,  aged  45  years. 

Eve  Young,  widow  of  Peter  Young,  who  departed  this 
life  March  31,  A.  D.,  1826,  in  the  74th  year  of  her  age. 

Sarah  and  Catharine  Young,  daughters  of  George  and 
Eliza  Young:  Sarah  died  16th  June,  1825,  aged  2 
months  and  25  days;  Catharine  died  Oct.  19,  1828, 
aged  5  years,  6  months  and  24  days. 

Thomas  Young  and  George  Young,  jr.,  sons  of  George 
and  Eliza  Young.  Thomas  departed  this  life  19th 
Jan.,  1829,  aged  2 years,  3  months  and  4 days;  George 
departed  this  life  4th  April,  1829,  aged  8  mos.  and  4 
days. 

Sacred  to  the  memory  of  Peter  Young,  who  departed 
this  life  26th  Sept.  1813,  aged  63  years,  11  months  and 
7  days. 

Margaret  Bassett,  wife  of  John  Young,  deceased,  who 
departed  this  life  Sept,  4,  1800,  aged  66  years. 

[The  person  employed  to  copy  the  foregoing  inscriptions  was; 

directed  to  follow  strictly  the  orthography  of  the  stonecutters,  but  it 

is  feared  that  errors  have  been  committed  in  some  cases,  though  it  ia» 

hoped  none  will  be  found  of  a  very  serious  nature.] 


[  Annals ,  vi. ] 


18 


FIRST  WHITE  WOMAN  IN  ALBANY.  I 

[From  N.  Y.  Col:. MSS.  XXXV.] 

Catelyn  Trico  aged  about  83  years  born  in  Paris 
doth  Testify  and  Declare  that  in  ye  year  1623  she  came 
into  this  Country  wth  a  Ship  called  ye  Unity  whereof  was 
Commander  Arien  Jorise  belonging  to  ye  West  India 
Company  being  ye  first  Ship  yl  came  here  for  ye  sd  Com¬ 
pany  ;  as  soon  as  they  came  to  Mannatans  now  called  N : 

York  they  sent  Two  families  &  six  men  to  harford  River 
&  Two  families  &  8  men  to  Delaware  River  and  8  men 
they  left  att  N:  Yorke  to  take  Possession  and  ye  Rest  of 
ye  Passengers  went  wth  ye  Ship  up  as  farr  as  Albany 
which  they  then  Called  fort  Orangie  When  as  ye  Ship 
came  as  farr  as  Sopus  which  is  \  way  to  Albanie;  they 
lightned  ye  Ship  wth  some  boats  yl  were  left  there  by  ye 
Dutch  that  had  been  there  ye  year  before  a  tradeing  wth 
ye  Indians  upon  there  oune  accompts  &  gone  back  again 
to  Holland  &  so  brought  ye  vessel  up ;  there  were  about 
18  families  aboard  who  settled  themselves  at  Albany  & 
made  a  small  fort ;  and  as  soon  as  they  had  built  them¬ 
selves  some  hutts  of  Bark:  ye  Mahikanders  or  River  In¬ 
dians,  ye  Maquase:  Oneydes:  Onnondages  Cayougas,  &  , 
Sinnekes,  wth  ye  Mahawawa  or  Ottawawaes  Indians  came 
&  made  an  Covenants  of  friendship  wth  ye  s !  Arien 
Jorise  there  Commander  Bringing  him  great  Presents  of 
Bever  or  oyr  Peltry  &  desyred  that  they  might  come  & 
have  a  Constant  free  Trade  with  them  well  was  con¬ 
cluded  upon  &  ye  sd  nations  come  dayly  with  great  mul- 
tidus  of  Bever  &  traded  them  wth  ye  Christians,  there  sd 
Commanr  Arien  Jorise  staid  with  them  all  winter  and 
sent  his  sonne  home  with  ye  ship ;  ye  sd  Deponent  lived 
in  Albany  three  years  all  which  time  ye  sd  Indians  were 
all  as  quiet  as  Lambs  &  came  &  Traded  with  all  ye  free¬ 
dom  Imaginable,  in  ye  year  1626  ye  Deponent  came  from 
Albany  &  settled  at  N:  Yorke  where  she  lived  afterwards 
for  many  years  and  then  came  to  Long  Island  where  she 
now  lives. 

The  sd  Catelyn  Trico  made  oath  of  ye  sd  Deposition  before  me  at  her  house  on 
Long  Island  in  ye  Wale  Bought  this  17th  day  of  October  1688. 

WILLIAM  MORRIS,  Justice  of  ye  pece 


(  201  ) 


V 


Eulosa  tm  t!je  SUe  an®  character 

OF 

JESSE  BUEL. 

Pronounced  before  the  New  York  State  Agricultural  Society,  at  their  Annual 
Meeting,  on  the  5th  February,  1840. 

By  AMOS  DEAN,  Esq. 


The  treasures  of  the  republic  are  to  be  found  in  the 
worth,  the  virtues,  the  intelligence,  and  the  integrity  of 
the  citizen.  He  alone  sustains  the  burdens,  as  he  re¬ 
ceives  the  benefits,  of  all  our  institutions,  our  frames  of 
government,  our  plans  of  policy. 

The  mere  citizen,  uncontrolled  by  higher  powers,  and 
unaided  by  adventitious  circumstances,  has  been,  in  truth, 
but  a  recent  actor  in  the  affairs  of  our  world.  The 
great  instruments  of  change  in  the  political  condition  of 
nations,  have  been  principally  the  slave  and  the  subject. 
In  the  revolutions  that  have  waited  upon  human  affairs, 
we  have  witnessed  almost  every  thing  dominant  in  its 
turn.  The  despot,  the  demagogue,  the  monarch,  the 
aristocrat,  have  each  and  all  had  their  day  of  trial  and 
of  triumph.  Let  the  honest,  intelligent,  unpretending 
citizen  now  have  his.  He  claims  it  in  view  of  his  im¬ 
portance  in  our  social,  civil,  and  political  edifice ;  in 
virtue  of  the  ‘policy  and  spirit  of  our  institutions;  and 
in  consequence  of  the  many  examples  of  real  worth  and 
merit  which  he  is  enabled  to  bring  forward. 

Among  the  most  prominent  of  these,  is  the  name  of 
the  late  esteemed  and  lamented  Jesse  Buel;  a  name 
which  must  ever  furnish  a  fitting  theme  for  eulogy 
wherever  intelligence  is  prized,  or  well  directed  industry 
respected,  or  high  moral  worth  meets  with  its  due  ap¬ 
preciation.  Since  the  last  annual  meeting  of  your  society, 
he,  who  so  justly  constituted  its  pride  and  its  ornament, 
has  passed  from  among  us.  It  has  been  deemed  proper 


2<)2 


Life  and  Character  of  Jesse  Buel. 

at  this  time  and  place,  to  pay  a  tribute  of  resjfbct  to  his 
memory ;  and  surely,  if  his  name  and  deserving  worth 
be  any  where  entitled  to  consideration,  it  is  here  and  by 
you . 

In  reference  to  his  individual  history,  I  propose  to  be 
brief  and  general,  conscious  that  although  the  partiality 
of  friends  may  dwell  with  deep  and  intense  interest  on 
minute  particulars,  yet  that  the  attention  of  the  public 
generally  ought  rather  to  be  directed  to  such  facts  as  may 
instruct  by  their  practical  application  to  the  common 
affairs  of  life. 

The  subject  of  these  remarks  was  born  in  Coventry, 
in  the  state  of  Connecticut,  on  the  4th  day  of  January, 
1778.  He  was  the  last  born,  and  the  last  that  has  died, 
of  a  family  of  fourteen  children.  His  father,  Elias  Buel, 
held  the  commission  of  major  in  the  war  of  our  revolu¬ 
tion,  and  was  a  fair  sample  of  the  plain,  unassuming, 
straight-forward  character  of  the  New  England  farmer. 

As  an  instance  in  proof  that  the  end  of  the  good  man 
is  peace,  it  deserves  to  be  mentioned,  that  the  advanced 
years  and  declining  strength  of  this  excellent  sample  of 
New  England's  earlier  population,  together  with  his  aged 
consort,  received  for  the  last  five  years  of  their  lives 
their  stay  and  support  from  the  filial  affections  of  their 
youngest  child;  until,  fully  matured,  and  at  the  advanced 
age  of  eighty-six  years,  they  both  left  this  world,  and  as 
if  their  union  had  become  indissoluble  by  bonds  that  had 
been  tightened  by  nearly  three-fourths  of  a  century, 
they  left  it  within  the  brief  period  of  six  weeks  of  each 
other.  * 

From  early  boyhood,  Judge  Buel  seems  to  have  had 
the  direction  of  his  own  course;  his  parents  wisely 
leaving  to  his  own  disposition  and  inclinations,  the  choice 
of  that  which  should  mainly  constitute  the  business  of 
his  life.  In  this  it  is  to  be  hoped  they  have  many 
imitators.  Let  young,  unsophisticated  nature  always 
speak  its  own  language,  and  follow  its  own  original  bias, 
and  success  will  be  likely  to  reward  its  exertions.  When 
he  had  arrived  at  the  age  of  twelve  years,  the  family, 


203- 


Life  and  Character  of  Jebse  Buel. 

including  himself,  moved  from  Coventry  to  Rutland,  Ver¬ 
mont,  and  two  years  afterwards,  when  he  had  completed 
the  age  of  fourteen,  he  became  an  apprentice  to  the 
printing  business,  in  the  office  of  Mr.  Lyons,  in  Rutland. 

When  the  youth,  possessing  the  qualities  that  are  to 
enoble  the  future  man,  has  silenced  all  mental  debate  by 
his  irrevocable  determination  as  to  what  particular  pur¬ 
suit  or  calling  the  great  energies  of  his  life  shall  be 
devoted,  he  immediately  applies  himself  with  unwearied 
ardor  and  assiduity,  to  carry  into  full  effect  his  firm,  high, 
undeviating  resolve. 

The  young  apprentice  distinguished  the  first  four  years 
of  his  term  by  a  close,  assiduous,  and  unremitted  attention 
to  the  attainment  of  the  printing  art.  At  the  end  of 
that  period,  such  had  been  his  devotion  to  business,  that 
he  had  acquired  as  perfect  a  knowledge  and  mastery  of 
the  routine  and  all  the  details  of  that  art,  as  are  ordi¬ 
narily  acquired  by  others  during  the  enfire  term  of  their 
apprenticeship.  Conscious  of  the  sufficiency  of  these 
attainments,  and  entertaining  a  realizing  sense  of  the 
immense  value  of  time,  especially  to  the  young,  he  suc¬ 
ceeded,  at  the  expiration  of  the  first  four  years,  in  pur¬ 
chasing  of  Mr.  Lyons  the  unexpired  three  years  of'  his 
regular  term,  and  thus  at  the  age  of  eighteen  he  was 
ready  to  exchange  the  apprentice  for  the  journeyman; 
and  to  earn,  in  the  latter  capacity,  sufficient  to  pay  the 
expense  of  the  exchange.  lie  immediately  found  his  way 
to  the  city  of  New  York,  and  was  there  laboring  as  a 
journeyman  during  the  desolating  ravages  of  the  yellow 
fever.  He  subsequently  worked  as  a  journeyman  with 
Mr.  McDonald  of  this  city,  and  was  a  short  time  at 
Waterford  and  Lansingburgh,  until  June  1797,  when  he 
formed  a  connection  in  business  with  Mr.  Moffit,  of 
Troy,  and  commenced  the  publication  of  the  Troy  Budget. 
This  was  continued  until  September,  1801,  when,  at  the 
age  of  twenty-three,  he  married  Miss  Susan  Pierce,  of 
Troy,  and  immediately  removed  to  Poughkeepsie,  where 
in  connection  with  Mr.  Joiner,  he  commenced  the  publi¬ 
cation  of  a  weekly  paper  called  The  Guardian.  This 


204 


Life  and  Character  of  , 'esse  Buel. 

\ 

was  contiued  about  a  year;  after  which,  he  entered  into 
another  copartnership,  and  commenced  the  publication 
of  the  Political  Banner.  This  last  proved  to  be  an 
unfortunate  business  connection;  and  after  about  a  year's 
continuance,  either  through  the  mismanagement  or  dis¬ 
honesty  of  his  partner,  he  found  himself  reduced  to  utter 
bankruptcy. 

This  is,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  rather  a  common  history; 
and  many,  thus  situated,  abandon  hope,  and  yield  them¬ 
selves  up  to  fatal  despondency.  Not  so  Judge  Buel.  With 
the  unshaken  assurance  of  success  which  naturally 
results  from  the  firm  determination  to  deserve  it,  he  saw, 
with  apparent  indifference,  the  slow,  labored,  and  rather 
scanty  accumulations  of  some  six  or  seven  years  suddenly 
s^vept  from  him ;  and  read,  in  this  lesson  of  mutability, 
at  least  the  chance  of  elevation,  as  well  as  depression, 
in  individual  condition.  He  never,  for  one  moment,  lost 
confidence  in  the  general  integrity  of  men,  nor  in  the 
ultimate  success  of  industry  and  application.  He  left 
Poughkeepsie  and  removed  to  Kingston,  where  he  estab¬ 
lished  a  weekly  paper  called  the  Plebian.  Here  he  con¬ 
tinued  during  the  period  of  ten  years,  from  1803  to  1813, 
applying  himself  with  diligence  and  activity  to  his  busi¬ 
ness.  During  a  part  of  this  time,  he  sustained  with 
reputation  the  office  of  judge,  in  the  Ulster  county  court; 
and.  by  his  persevering  industry,  and  well  directed 
application,  he  not  only  retrieved  his  losses,  but  also 
acquired  some  considerable  real  and  personal  estate. 

In  1813,  his  reputation  as  an  editor  and  a  man  having 
made  him  favorably  known  to  the  public,  he  was  induced, 
through  the  exertions  of  Judge  Spencer  and  some  others, 
to  remove  to  the  city  of  Albany,  and  to  commence  the 
Albany  Argus.  The  succeeding  year,  he  was  appointed 
printer  to  the  state,  the  duties  of  which,  together  with 
the  editorship  of  the  Argus ,  he  continued  to  discharge 
until  the  year  1820;  at  which  time  he  sold  out  with  the 
determination  to  abandon  the  printing  business. 

It  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  while  engaged  in  this  busi¬ 
ness  he  always  performed  himself  the  labor  essential  to 
its  successful  prosecution.  He  was  always  the  setter  of 


205 


Life  and  Character  of  Jesse  Bael. 

his  own  types,  and,  until  he  came  to  Albany,  the  worker 
of  his  own  press.  Is  there  not  something,  in  the  very 
nature  of  the  printing  art,  that  tends  to  originate  and 
perpetuate  habits  of  severer  industry  than  any  other 
occupation  or  calling  ? 

After  disposing  of  his  printing  establishment  and 
business,  he  purchased  a  farm  of  eighty-five  acres  of 
land  near  the  city  of  Albany,  which  then  helped  to 
compose  that  tract  of  land  lying  west  of  the  city,  and 
appropriately  denominated  the  Sandy  Barrens.  That 
which,  for  some  years  past,  has  been  so  extensively  and 
favorably  known  as  the  Albany  Nursery,  then  lay  an 
open  common,  unimproved,  covered  with  bushes,  and 
apparently  doomed  to  everlasting  sterility.  These  un¬ 
promising  appearances,  which  to  a  common  mind  would 
have  presented  insuperable  obstacles,  served  to  increase 
the  efforts,  rather  than  damp  the  ardor,  of  Judge  Buel. 
Difficulties,  hindrances,  obstructions,  were  with  him 
every  day  familiars.  His  mind  had  been,  in  some  mea¬ 
sure,  formed  under  their  influence.  He  recognized  and 
acted  on  the  doctrine,  that  where  God  has  done  little,  it  is 
incumbent  on  man  to  do  much ;  and  that  nothing  in  this 
world  is  ever  lost  by  courting  situations  that  require  the 
expenditure  of  unremitted  effort.  Man  was  made  to 
labor,  both  corporeally  and  mentally,  and  his  happiness 
in  life  depends,  much  more  than  he  is  generally  aware  of, 
on  the  strict  obedience  which  he  yields  to  this  primal  law 
of  his  being. 

On  this  farm  he  continued  to  reside  until  the  time  of 
his  death.  Under  his  untiring  and  well  directed  industry, 
the  most  unpromising  indications  soon  disappeared,  and 
as  a  practical  commentary  upon  the  truth  of  his  agri¬ 
cultural  doctrine,  and  in  proof  that  he  in  reality  practiced 
what  he  preached,  it  may  be  mentioned  that  the  same 
acre  of  land,  which  in  1821  he  purchased  for  $30,  is  now 
worth,  at  a  moderate  estimate,  $200. 

While  residing  on  the  farm,  since  1821,  he  has  several 
times  represented  the  city  and  county  of  Albany  in  the 
popular  branch  of  the  legislature  of  this  state;  has  been 


206 


Life  and  Character  of  Jesse  Buel. 

for  several  years,  and  was  at  time  of  his  death,  a  regent 
of  the  university  ;  and  in  the  fall  of  1836  received  the 
whig  support  as  their  candidate  for  the  office  of  governor 
of  the  state  of  New  York. 

On  the  political  course  of  Judge  Buel,  I  do  not  design 
to  enlarge.  He  was  a  believer  in  the  old  fashioned 
doctrine,  that  office,  instead  of  being  made  for  men , 
should  be  made  by  them;  that  it  conferred  far  less 
privileges  than  it  imposed  duties ;  that  it  was  a  trust  re¬ 
posed,  and  the  incumbent  a  trustee ,  and  responsible  for 
the  proper  performance  of  the  trust;  that  instead  of 
operating  as  a  license  to  live  and  fatten  on  the  public 
spoil,  without  the  necessity  of  labor,  it  imposed  the 
severe  obligations  of  more  incessant  effort,  and  of  acting 
under  deeper  and  heavier  responsibilities;  and  that  it 
was  no  further  honorable  than  as  an  indication  of  trust 
and  confidence  on  the  part  of  those  whose  intelligence 
and  moral  worth  were  the  vouchers  for  its  value.  The 
introduction  of  many  modern  improvements ,  is  tending  to 
render  that  doctrine  somewhat  antiquated,  and  to  diminish 
the  number  of  its  adherents. 

Mere  political  pre-eminence  is,  at  best,  •  extremely 
equivocal.  It  may  be  ennobled  by  the  solid  qualities  of 
the  statesman,  or  debased  by  the  crafty  arts  of  the 
politician.  Its  highest  attainable  summit  has  been  not 
inaptly  compared  to  the  apex  of  a  pyramid,  which  can 
be  reached  by  the  soaring  eagle,  or  the  crawling  reptile. 
The  durable  reputation  of  Jesse  Buel  depends  on  that 
which  politics  can  neither  give  nor  withhold;  which  is  at 
a  high  remove  above  the  little  tricks  of  little  men;  which 
is  far  beyond  the  reach  of  the  aristocrat,  and  above  the 
highest  possible  conceptions  of  the  mere  demagogue.  It 
reposes  on  that  strong  sense  of  obligation  which  a 
people  feel  themselves  under  to  a  high  and  gifted  mind 
exerted  for  their  benefit.  It  is  the  grateful  homage 
rendered  by  mind  to  mind;  the  most  desirable,  the  most 
enduring,  the  most  esteemed,  of  earthly  homage.  It 
arises  from  the  feeling  of  benefits  conferred  on  the  one 
side,  and  received  on  the  other.  It  serves  to  connect  the 


207 


Life  and  Character  of  Jesse  Buel. 

great  mass  of  man  with  the  few  master  spirits  'who  are 
pioneering  onward  in  advance  of  their  age.  The  highest 
mere  political  distinctions  dwindle  into  insignificance, 
when  compared  and  contrasted  with  this  highest  attain¬ 
ment  of  a  laudable  ambition.  To  those  acquainted  with 
the  arcana  of  politics,  it  will  be  sufficient  to  observe, 
that  Jesse  Buel  never  merged  the  man  in  the  politician; 
that  he  never  gave  up  his  independence  of  thought,  of 
expression,  or  of  action ;  and  that  he  preserved  throughout 
that  perfect  integrity  of  purpose,  that  never,  through 
his  whole  life,  ceased  to  be  the  guide  of  his  action.  To 
those  ignorant  of  such  arcana,  I  can  only  say,  that, 

“  Where  ignorance  is  bliss,  ’twere  folly  to  be  wise.” 

It  is  in  the  labors  of  Judge  Buel  in  the  advancement 
of  agricultural  and  horticultural  pursuits,  particularly 
the  former,  that  the  people  of  this  union  have  a  deep 
and  abiding  interest.  He  retired  to  his  farm  at  the  age 
of  forty-three;  a  period  of  life  when  the  mind  has  at¬ 
tained  the  full  maturity  of  its  varied  powers.  He  carried 
with  him  a  sound  body,  the  result  of  a  good  original 
constitution,  of  strictly  temperate  habits,  and  much  active 
exercise  in  the  prosecution  of  his  business;  and  a  mind 
well  stored  with  valuable  information,  of  a  character  the 
most  available  for  the  common  uses  and  purposes  of  life. 
So  far  as  his  pecuniary  circumstances  were  concerned, 
he  might,  at  this  period  of  time,  have  been  justified  in 
dispensing  with  further  labor  either  of  body  or  mind. 
He  was  no  longer  compelled  to  act  under  the  spur  of 
necessity.  But  his  ready  perceptions,  and  accurate  feel¬ 
ings,  convinced  him  of  a  truth,  which  others  are  often 
doomed  to  acquire  from  a  sad  experience — that  a  life  of 
labor  is,  of  all  other  kinds  of  life,  the  last  that  should  be 
terminated  by  an  age  of  inactivity.  Men  violate  the 
laws  impressed  by  God  upon  the  condition  of  things, 
when  they  assign  to  their  declining  years  an  inglorious 
ease  in  the  expenditure  of  that  fortune,  which  the  suc¬ 
cessful  industry  of  their  manhood  had  ^accumulated. 
There  is  also  in  all  highly  gifted  minds,  that  are  endowed 


208 


Life  and  Character  of  Jesse  Buel. 

with  clear,  strong  intellect,  combined  with  conscientious¬ 
ness,  a  deep  feeling  of  responsibility  for  the  due  exercise 
of  their  powers,  in  a  manner  the  most  advantageous  to 
their  fellow-men.  God  has  placed  a  double  safeguard 
over  the  advancement  of  man,  by  leaving  the  means  that 
conduce  to  it  in  charge  both  of  the  impulses  that  originate 
from  self,  and  of  the  promptings  derived  from  his  high 
moral  nature. 

The  mind  of  Judge  Buel  fortunately  had  the  sagacity 
to  perceive  both  where  his  industry  was  the  most  re¬ 
quired  and  could  be  rendered  the  most  available.  Of 
the  three  great  interests  that  divide  between  them  the 
labors  of  men,  viz.,  the  agricultural,  the  mechanical 
and  manufacturing,  and  the  commercial,  it  is  not  difficult 
to  perceive  that  the  first  has  long  been  the  most  impor¬ 
tant,  and  the  most  neglected.  The  last,  or  commerce,  is 
much  dependent  on  the  other  two,  and  may  always  be  ex¬ 
pected  to  flourish  where  either  agriculture  or  mechanical 
and  manufacturing  arts  yield  their  multitude  of  products. 
Between  the  other  two,  there  is  a  mutual  dependence; 
agriculture  furnishing  the  supports  of  life,  and  the 
mechanic  arts,  in  their  turn,  supplying  the  instruments 
of  agriculture.  Of  these  two,  the  mechanic  arts  had 
received  relatively  much  the  most  attention.  To  advance 
them,  man’s  ingenuity  and  inventive  powers  had  been 
severely  tasked;  and  science  was  required  to  furnish  its 
contributions ;  and  the  devising  and  employment  of  labor 
saving  machinery  attested,  in  a  variety  of  instances,  the 
triumphs  of  mind  over  the  inert  materials  every  where 
abounding  in  nature.  But  while  the  mechanic  and 
manufacturing  arts  were  thus  prospering,  agriculture  was 
allowed  to  labor  on  unaided,  and  unenlightened  in  the 
knowledge  of  itself.  The  new  and  virgin  earth  on  this 
continent,  that  had  been  for  ages  rearing  and  receiving 
back  into  its  bosom  the  tall  tree  of  the  forest,  and  the 
waving  grass  of  the  prairie,  required,  at  first,  in  many 
places,  but  a  small  quantity  of  labor  to  ensure  ample  re¬ 
turns.  When  the  soil  began  to  give  evidence  of  exhaustion, 
instead  of  attempting  its  restoration,  new  fields  were 


209 


Life  and  Character  of  Jesse  Buel. 

brought  under  the  dominion  of  the  plough.  The  great 
mass  of  agricultural  population,  so  far  as  their  business 
was  concerned,  were  little  more  than  creatures  of  habit. 
Men  lived,  and  labored,  and  trod  the  same  paths,  and 
performed  the  same  circles  of  action,  with  scarcely  a 
single  well  settled  principle  for  their  guide,  except  that 
the  same  field  ought  not  to  be  taxecj  to  grow  two  successive 
crops  of  flax.  The  principal,  and  almost  the  sole  object 
in  view,  was  to  realize  as  great  immediate  returns  as 
possible  from  the  smallest  amount  of  labor,  without  any 
regard  whatever  to  the  exhausted  condition  in  which 
they  might  leave  the  soil ;  much  like  the  traveler,  who 
seeks  the  rapid  accomplishment  of  a  long  journey,  by 
driving  so  far  the  first  day  as  to  destroy  his  horse. 

The  new  system  of  agriculture,  with  which  the  name 
and  reputation  of  Judge  Buel  is  essentially  identified, 
consists  in  sustaining  and  strengthening  the  soil,  while 
its  productive  qualities  are  put  into  requisition;  in 
rendering  the  farm  every  year  more  valuable,  by  annually 
increasing  both  its  products  and  its  power  of  producing; 
like  the  traveler,  who,  instead  of  destroying  his  horse  the 
first  day,  should  so  regulate  his  motion,  and  administer 
his  supplies  of  food,  as  to  enable  him  to  make  additional 
progress  every  successive  day,  until  the  completion  of 
his  journey.  This  new  system — new  I  mean  in  this 
country — has  been  principally  carried  into  effect  by 
manuring,  by  draining,  by  good  tillage,  by  alternating 
crops,  by  root  culture,  and  by  the  substitution  of  fallow 
crops  for  naked  fallows. 

In  testing  the  principles  embraced  in  the  new  system, 
Judge  Buel  first  made  the  practical  application  to  his 
own  farm.  lie  compelled  his  sand-hills  to  stay  at  home, 
and  be  less  obedient  to  commotions  in  the  atmosphere. 
He  was  particular  in  observing  the  effect  produced  upon 
the  soil  by  his  mode  of  management.  After  satisfying 
himself  by  actual  experiment,  of  the  truth  and  advan¬ 
tages  of  the  new  system,  he  became  desirious  of  rendering 
it  as  generally  known  as  possible.  With  that  view,  the 
paper,  now  so  well  known  as  The  Cultivator ,  was  first 


210  Life  and  Character  of  Jesse  Buel. 

commenced  under  tlie  auspices  of  the  State  Agricultural 
Society,  in  March,  1834.  A  committee  of  publication, 
consisting  of  Jesse  Buel,  Doctor  James  P.  Beekman,  and 
James  D.  Wasson,  were  appointed  by  the  society,  and 
under  their  direction,  Judge  Buel  being  the  real  editor, 
The  Cultivator  first  made  its  appearance,  in  the  form,  of 
a  small  sheet,  issued  monthly,  and  at  the  very  moderate 
price  of  twenty-five  cents  per  year.  So  little,  however, 
did  it  become  known ;  so  very  deficient  was  the  taste  for 
reading  on  agricultural  subjects;  and,  consequently,  so 
extremely  limited  was  its  circulation,  that  the  same 
volume,  which  has  since  passed  through  three  editions, 
and  now  reposes  on  the  shelves  of  more  than  24,000 
American  farmers,  was  found,  at  the  end  of  the  year,  to 
have  accumulated  a  debt,  over  and  above  its  receipts,  of 
nearly  five  hundred  dollars.  Entertaining," however,  a 
thorough  conviction  of  the  utility  of  the  undertaking, 
and  never  doubting  its  ultimate  success,  he  made  an 
arrangement  with  the  society,  by  which  he  became  sole 
proprietor  of  The  Cultivator,  assuming  the  payment  of 
all  its  debts  and  liabilities.  The  superior  merits  of  the 
paper  soon  began  to  render  it  more  generally  known.  It 
was  found  necessary  to  enlarge  it,  and  to  increase  the 
price  to  fifty  cents  per  annum.  Notwithstanding  the  in¬ 
crease  in  price,  the  subscription  list  for  the  fourth  volume, 
published  from  March,  1837,  to  March,  1838,  amounted  to 
23,000.  It  was  then  deemed  expedient  still  farther  to 
enlarge  and  improve,  and  accordingly  in  March  1838,  upon 
commencing  the  fifth  volume,  a  larger,  more  expensive 
and  better  executed  sheet  was  issued  at  the  subscription 
price  of  one  dollar  per  annum.  This  increase  in  price, 
at  first  diminished,  very  considerably,  the  number  of 
subscribers.  They  were,  however,  gradually  increasing, 
and,  at  the  time  of  his  death,  amounted  to  about  16,000. 

We  might  naturally  expect  that  a  mind  thus  active  and 
gifted,  could  not  long  continue  to  exercise  its  powers, 
without  acquiring  a  more  or  less  extended  and  solid 
reputation.  The  new  and  vigorous  impulse  he  was 
giving  to  agriculture  and  horticulture,  awoke  to  activity 


211 


Life  and  Character  of  Jesse  Buel, 

a  kindred  spirit  in  the  breasts  of  his  countrymen.  This 
call  to  renewed  agricultural  efforts  met  with  a  corre¬ 
sponding  response  from  many  portions  of  the  union. 
Societies,  devoted  to  agriculture  and  horticulture,  origi¬ 
nated  in  various  sections  of  our  country;  and  among 
their  first  acts  has  usually  been  the  recognition  of  their 
obligations  to  Jesse  Buel,  by  electing  him  an  honorary 
member.  As  examples  of  this,  and  also  to  show  the 
laudable  efforts  that  have  been  made  to  form  agricultural 
and  horticultural  societies,  I  would  mention  the  fol¬ 
lowing  : 

In  1821,  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Massachusetts 
Agricultural  Society ;  in  1829  of  the  Horticultural  Society 
of  that  state;  in  1830,  of  the  Monroe  Horticultural 
Society  at  Rochester;  in  1831,  of  the  Charleston  Horti¬ 
cultural  Society,  in  South  Carolina;  in  1832,  of  the 
Hampshire  Franklin  and  Hampden  Society,  in  Massa¬ 
chusetts,  and  of  the  Hamilton  County  Agricultural  Society 
at  Cincinnati;  in  1833,  of  the  Tennessee  Agricultural 
and  Horticultural  Societies;  in  1834,  of  the  Horticultural 
Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia;  in  1838,  of  the 
Philadelphia  Society  of  Agriculture,  and  in  1839,  of  the 
Albemarle  Agricultural  Society.  In  1838,  he  was  chosen 
President  of  the  Horticultural  Society  of  the  Valley  of 
the  Hudson.  He  has  been  several  times  elected  President 
of  the  State  Agricultural  Society. 

Distinctions,  similar  to  those  already  mentioned,  have 
been  conferred  upon  him  by  foreign  and  transatlantic 
societies.  In  1833,  he  was  chosen  a  corresponding 
member  of  the  Lower  Canada  Agricultural  Society;  in 
1834,  'of  the  London  and  New  York  Horticultural 
Societies.  In  1830,  he  was  chosen  an  honorary  member 
of  the  State  Society  of  Statisques  Universelles,  at  Paris, 
and,  in  1836,  he  was  chosen  a  corresponding  member  of 
the  Royal  and  Central  Society  of  Agriculture,  at  Paris. 

Let  it,  however,  by  no  means  be  supposed  that  Judge 
Buel’s  mental  efforts  were  confined  exclusively  to  agri* 
culture  and  horticulture.  In  his  view,  man  was  born  for 
higher  purposes  than  merely  to  produce  and  consume  the 

[Annals,  vi.]  19 


212  Life  and  Character  of  Jesse  Buel. 

products  of  the  earth.  The  motto  to  his  Cultivator  was, 
“To  improve  the  soil,  and  the  mind.”  Of  what  real 
utility  are  all  the  enjoyments  of  mere  physical  existence, 
unaccompanied  by  the  higher  delights  of  mental  being? 
No  man  more  fully  realized  the  force  of  this  than  Judge 
Buel.  His  system  of  education,  however,  like  his  system  of 
agriculture,  was  eminently  practical;  and  like  that,  too,  it 
would  endeavor  to  strengthen  the  producing  power  while 
it  developed  its  products.  He  would  guide  the  effort  of 
muscle  by  the  direction  of  mind.  While  cultivating  the 
land,  he  would  enjoy  the  landscape.  While  caging  the 
bird,  he  would  not  be  ‘insensible  to  its  music.  Tho 
numerous  valuable  hints  and  suggestions  on  the  subject 
of  education,  that  occur  in  his  Cultivator  and  other 
writings,  evidence  the  soundness  and  correctness  of  his 
views  on  that  all  important  subject. 

The  efforts  of  Judge  Buel  have  greatly  tended  to  make 
honorable,  as  well  as  profitable  and  improving,  the  pur¬ 
suits  of  agriculture.  He  clearly  perceived  that  to  render 
the  farming  interest  prosperous,  it  must  stand  high  in 
the  public  estimation.  So  long  as  it  was  conceded  to  be 
an  occupation  that  required  little  more  than  mere  habit 
to  follow,  and  that  it  was  indifferent  to  success,  whether 
the  man  possessed  great  intellectual  power,  or  a  mind  on 
a  level  with  the  ox  he  drove,  it  could  not  be  expected 
that  any  would  embark  in  it  unless  necessity  compelled 
them,  or  the  very  moderate  extent  of  their  mental 
bestowment  precluded  any  reasonable  chance  of  success 
in  any  other.  He  taught  men  that  agricultural  prosperity 
resulted  neither  from  habit  nor  chance';  that  success  was 
subject  to  the  same  law  in  this,  as  in  other  departments 
of  industry,  and  before  it  could  be  secured,  must  be 
deserved;  that  mind,  intellectual  power,  and  moral  pur¬ 
pose,  constituted  as  essential  parts  in  the  elements  of 
agricultural  prosperity  as  in  those  of  any  other;  and  all 
these  truths  he  enforced  by  precept,  and  illustrated  by 
practice.  By  these  means  he  has  called  into  the  field  of 
agricultural  labor  a  higher  order  of  mind;  has  elevated 
the  standard  of  agricultural  attainment;  and  has  tended 


213 


Life  and  Character  of  Jesse  Bael. 

to  render  this  extensive  department  of  industry  as  in¬ 
telligent,  respected,  and  honorable,  as  it  ever  has  been 
conceded  to  be  useful,  healthy,  and  independent. 

Thus  gifted,  esteemed,  beloved,  distinguished,  and  in 
the  enjoyment  of  a  reputation  coextensive  with  the  agri¬ 
cultural  interest  in  this  country,  it  would  seem,  that  if 
life  were  a  boon  worth  possessing,  he  had  almost  earned 
a  long  and  undisturbed  enjoyment  of  it.  But  the  dis¬ 
pensations  of  God  to  man  are  full  of  mystery.  Religion 
and  reason  here  teach  the  same  lesson:  to  observe,  adore, 
and  submit. 

He  had  accepted  invitations  to  deliver  addresses  before 
the  agricultural  and  horticultural  societies  of  Norwich 
and  New  Haven,  Connecticut,  on  the  25th  and  27th  of 
September,  1839.  About  the  middle  of  that  month,  he 
left  this  city  for  that  purpose,  accompanied  by  his  only 
daughter.  On  Saturday  night,  the  22d  of  September,  at 
Danbury,  Connecticut,  he  was  seized  with  the  bilious 
cholic.  This  was  extremely  distressing,  but  yielded, 
within  three  days,  to  the  force  of  medical  treatment.  A 
bilious  fever  then  supervened,  unaccompanied,  however, 
by  any  alarming  symptoms  until  Friday,  4th  of  October. 
His  disease  then  assumed  a  serious  aspect,  and  a  change 
was  obviously  perceptible,  particularly  in  his  voice.  He 
had  occasionally,  during  his  sickness,  expressed  doubts 
of  his  recovery,  although  his  physicians,  up  to  the  4th  of 
October,  entertained  no  serious  apprehensions  that  his 
disease  would  terminate  fatally.  He  retained  throughout 
the  full  possession  of  his  mental  faculties,  and  expressed 
his  entire  resignation  to  the  will  of  Heaven.  He  con¬ 
tinued  gradually  to  decline  from  Friday  until  about  three 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  Sunday,  when,  after  faintly 
uttering  the  name  of  his  absent  companion,  with  whom 
he  had  shared  the  toils,  and  troubles,  and  triumphs,  of 
almost  forty  years,  he  calmly,  and  without  a  groan  or  a 
struggle,  canceled  the  debt  which  his  birth  had  created, 
and  “  yielded  up  his  spirit  to  God  who  gave  it.” 

We  involuntarily  pause  at  the  termination  of  the  good 
man’s  earthly  career,  and  almost  imagine  ourselves  en- 


214  Life  and  Character  of  Jesse  Buel. 

titled  to  catch  some  feeble  or  imperfect  glimpse  of  his 
departing  spirit,  as  it  speeds  its  way  to  the  source  of 
light  and  of  love.  He  died  in  the  very  field  of  his  labors ; 
in  the  midst  of  his  usefulness;  in  the  full  maturity  of 
his  mental  faculties.  No  symptom  of  decline  had  evi¬ 
denced  a  waning  spirit,  nor  had  the  touch  of  decay 
impaired  the  strength,  or  disturbed  the  harmony,  of  his 
mind. 

He  left  behind  him  the  companion  of  his  earlier  and 
latter  years,  and  four  children,  to  mourn  their  bereave¬ 
ment;  an  extensive  circle  of  warmly  attached  and  de¬ 
voted  friends  to  deplore  their  loss;  a  whole  community 
deeply  to  regret  his  removal;  and  an  entire  interest, 
constituting  the  key  stone  in  our  social  and  civil  arch,  to 
lose  the  benefits  of  his  untiring  efforts.  Such  a  death 
succeeding  such  a  life,  occurring  at  such  a  time,  and 
under  such  circumstances,  most  forcibly  exemplifies  that 
beautiful  sentiment  of  the  poet,  that 

Life  lies  in  embryo,  never  free. 

Till  nature  yields  her  breath; 

Till  time  becomes  eternity, 

And  man  is  bo^n  in  death.'1'1 

Ail  that  remains  for  us  is  to  cherish  his  memory;  to 
imitate  his  virtues;  and  to  avail  ourselves  of  his  labors. 
He  was  himself  a  practical  illustration  of  republican 
simplicity.  Always  plain  in  his  dress  and  •  appearance ; 
unassuming  in  his  manners;  unostentatious  in  the  ex¬ 
treme;  he  was  hospitable,  without  display;  pious,  without 
pretension;  and  learned,  without  any  mixture  of  pedantry. 
His  was  a  character  of  the  olden  time,  and  formed  on  a 
noble  model.  With  a  proper  estimate  of  what  was  due 
to  others,  he  united  accurate  conceptions  of  what  he  was 
justly  entitled  to  receive  from  them.  His  principles  of 
politeness  were  not  learned  from  the  writings  of  Lord 
Chesterfield;  nor  were  they  derived  from  those  higher 
circles  in  society,  where,  too  frequently,  artificial  rules 
chill  the  warmth  of  social  feeling,  and  the  play  of  our 
faculties,  which,  beyond  all  other  things,  should  claim 
exemption  from  restraint,  is  reduced  under  the  worse 


215 


Life  and  Character  of  Jesse  Buel. 

than  iron  bondage  of  heartless  forms ;  where  a  mistake 
in  manners  is  even  less  pardonable  than  a  fault  in  morals. 
His  politeness  flowed  directly  from  his  character,  and 
was  the  natural  expression  of  a  happy  combination  of 
faculties.  He  was  frank  in  his  communications,  because 
he  was  so  constituted  by  nature,  and  had,  in  fact,  nothing 
to  conceal.  Although  more  than  three  score  years  had 
passed  over  him,  yet  the  consciousness  of  a  blameless 
life  removed  all  restraint  upon  the  freedom  of  his  inter¬ 
course. 

The  character  and  general  habit  of  his  mind  was,  in 
the  highest  degree,  practical.  The  value  and  importance 
he  attached  to  a  thing,  were  deduced  from  his  estimate 
of  its  uses ;  and  those  uses  consisted  of  the  number  and 
importance  of  the  applications  which  he  perceived  could 
be  made  of  it,  to  the  common  purposes  of  life.  He  regarded 
life  as  being  more  made  up  of  daily  duties,  than  of  re¬ 
markable  events:  and  his  estimate  of  the  value  of  a 
principle,  or  proposed  plan  of  operations,  was  derived 
from  the  extent  to  which  application  could  be  made  of 
it  to  life’s  every  day  matters.  He  presented  the  rare 
occurrence  of  a  mind  originally  conversant  with  the 
most  common  concerns,  arising,  by  its  own  inherent 
energies,  from  them  to  the  comprehension  of  principles, 
and  coming  back  and  applying  those  principles  to  the 
objects  of  its  earlier  knowledge. 

As  a  writer,  the  merits  of  Judge  Buel  have  already 
been  determined  by  a  discerning  public.  It  is  here 
worthy  of  remark,  that  he  never  had  but  six  months’ 
schooling,  having  enjoyed  fewer  advantages,  in  that  re¬ 
spect,  than  most  farmers’  and  mechanics’  sons.  He, 
however,  had  the  good  fortune  to  possess  a  mind  that 
could  improve  itself  by  its  own  action.  Although,  there¬ 
fore,  he  lacked  the  advantages  of  that  early  education, 
which  can  polish,  point,  and  refine  good  sense  where  it 
happens  to  be  found,  and  endeavors  to  supply  its  absence 
by  some  imperfect  substitute,  where  it  is  wanting;  yet 
by  dint  of  study  and  practice,  and  of  strong  original  en¬ 
dowment,  he  succeeded  in  the  attainment  of  a  style 


216  Life  and  Character  of  Jesse  Buel. 

excellently  well  adapted  to  the  nature  of  his  communica¬ 
tions.  It  consisted  simply  in  his  telling,  in  plain  language, 
just  the  thing  he  thought.  The  arts  of  rhetoric;  the 
advantages  of  skillful  arrangement  in  language;  the 
abundant  use  of  tropes  and  figures ;  he  never  resorted  to. 
He  seemed  neither  to  expect  or  desire,  that  his  com¬ 
munications  would  possess  with  other  minds  any  more 
weight  than  the  ideas  contained  in  them  would  justly 
entitle  them  to.  With  him  words  meant  things,  and 
not  simply  their  shadows.  He  came  to  the  common 
mind  like  an  old  familiar  acquaintance;  and  although  he 
brought  to  it  new  ideas,  yet  they  consisted  in  concep¬ 
tions  clearly  comprehensible  in  themselves,  and  conveyed 
in  the  plainest  and  most  intelligible  terms. 

His  writings  are  principally  to  be  found  in  the  many 
addresses  he  has  delivered;  in  the  six  volumes  of  his 
Cultivator;  in  the  small  volume  (made  up,  however, 
principally  or  entirely,  from  materials  taken  from  the 
Cultivator )  published  by  the  Harpers  of  New  York; 
and  in  the  Farmers ’  Companion ,  the  last  and  most  perfect 
of  his  works,  containing,  within  a  small  compass,  the 
embodied  results  of  liis  agricultural  experience,  a  rich 
legacy  to  which  the  great  extent  of  our  farming  interest 
can  not  remain  insensible.  This  work  was  written  ex¬ 
pressly  for  the  Massachusetts  Board  of  Education,  and 
constitutes  one  of  the  numbers  of  the  second  series  of 
that  truly  invaluable  district  school  library,  now  issuing, 
under  the  sanction  of  that  board,  from  the  press  of 
Marsh,  Capen,  Lyon  &  Webb  of  Boston;  which,  for  the 
extent  of  the  undertaking,  the  great  caution  exercised 
in  selecting  the  material,  the  talent  enlisted  in  furnishing 
it,  and  the  durable  manner  in  which  the  books  are 
executed,  so  richly  deserves  the  patronage  of  the  whole 
American  nation.  I  deem  it  really  the  most  fortunate 
circumstance  in  his  life,  that  he  should  have  been  per¬ 
mitted,  so  immediately  previous  to  his  departure,  to 
furnish  just  this  volume,  for  just  this  purpose;  and  I 
shall  confidently  expect  that  the  coming  generation  will 
be  better  farmers,  better  citizens,  and  better  men,  from 


217 


Life  and  Character  of  Jesse  Bad . 

having  had  the  formation  of  their  young  minds  influenced, 
to  some  extent,  by  the  lessons  of  experience  and  practi¬ 
cal  wisdom,  derived  from  the  last,  best,  most  mature 
production  of  this  excellent  man.  The  several  district 
schools  throughout  our  state,  will,  undoubtedly,  feel  it 
due  to  the  important  trusts  they  have  in  charge,  to  secure 
this  among  other  valuable  publications,  to  aid  in  com¬ 
posing  their  respective  district  school  libraries,  from 
which  so  much  good  is  expected  to  be  derived. 

The  example  of  Judge  Buel  affords  practical  instruc¬ 
tion,  as  well  as  his  works.  There  is  hardly  a  situation 
or  condition  in  life,  to  which  some  incident,  event,  or 
portion  of  his  existence,  does  not  apply  with  peculiar 
force,  and  afford  much  encouragement.  To  the  wealthy, 
those  who  by  successful  industry  have  accumulated  com¬ 
petent  fortunes,  it  teaches  the  salutary  lesson,  that 
continued  happiness  can  only  be  secured  by  continued 
industry;  that  the  highly  gifted  mind  must  feel  a  re¬ 
sponsibility  for  the  legitimate  exercise  of  its  powers; 
and  that,  when  the  requisite  capacity  is  possessed,  the 
one  can  be  the  most  effectually  secured,  and  the  other 
satisfied,  by  communicating  to  the  minds  of  the  young  the 
results  of  a  long  experience,  of  much  varied  observation 
and  accumulated  knowledge,  and  many  original  and  pro¬ 
found  reflections  upon  men  and  things. 

To  those  who  have  sustained  losses,  been  unfortunate 
in  business,  and  had  the  slow  accumulations  of  years 
suddenly  swept  away  by  accident,  misfortune  or  fraud; 
it  teaches  the  important  truth,  that, 

“In  the  lexicon  of  youth,  which  fate  reserves 
For  a  bright  manhood,  there  is  no  such  wrord 
As  fail;” 

that  undaunted  resolution,  rigid  economy,  close  calcula¬ 
tion,  prudent  management,  aided  by  renewed  application 
and  well  directed,  persevering  industry,  can  never  fail, 
except  in  cases  very  uncommon,  to  retrieve  their  circum¬ 
stances,  restore  their  condition,  and  by  the  excellent 
habits  they  create,  to  send  them  forward  on  the  mutable 
course  of  life,  wuth  fresh  assurance,  renewed  hope,  and 
more  confident  anticipations. 


218  Life  and  Character  of  Jesse  Buel. 

To  the  youth  who  has  just  commenced  threading  the 
devious  paths  of  young  existence ;  who  is  beginning  to 
open  his  senses  and  his  faculties  to  the  appreciation  and 
enjoyment  of  the  aliment  w  ith  which  God  has  furnished 
them;  it  speaks  a  language  at  once  impressive  and  invit¬ 
ing.  It  presents  the  instance  of  one  from  among  them, 
born  in  poverty,  having  all  the  hardships,  obstacles  and 
disadvantages  so  frequently  occurring  in  early  life  to 
contend  with;  with  no  other  inheritance  than  a  sound 
mind  in  a  sound  body,  working  his  vray  onward  and  up¬ 
ward  to  the  esteem,  respect  and  confidence  of  his  fellow 
men.  There  have  been  no  peculiarly  favorable  combina¬ 
tions  of  circumstances  to  contribute  to  his  progress  and 
advancement.  No  miracle  has  been  wrought  in  his  favor, 
nor  arts  of  magic  enlisted  in  his  aid.  Nothing  whatever 
has  contributed  to  remove  his  case  out  of  the  empire  of 
that  same  cause  and  effect  in  subjection  to  wdnch  all  the 
phenomena  of  life  are  evolved.  It  is  the  obvious  case  of 
distinction  and  a  high  reputation  acquired  and  earned  by 
the  most  persevering  industry ;  the  most  scrupulous  re¬ 
gard  for  right;  the  exercise  of  superior  intellect;  the 
practice  of  every  virtue;  and  its  plain,  practical  language 
to  the  youth  of  our  land  is:  “  Go  thou  and  do  likewise 
You  are  supported  by  the  same  soil;  overhung  by  the 
same  heavens;  surrounded  by  the  same  classes  of  objects, 
and  subjected  to  the  action  of  the  same  all  pervading 
laws.  Would  you  possess  the  same  good?  Acquire  it 
by  a  resort  to  similar  means. 

To  all,  it  addresses  a  consoling  language,  in  the  fact 
that  we  here  see  industry  recompensed;  unobtrusive 
merit  rewarded;  intellectual  action  accomplishing  its  ob¬ 
jects;  high  moral  worth  appreciated;  and  the  unostenta¬ 
tious  virtues  of  a  life,  held  in  due  esteem,  respect  and 
consideration.  This  tends  to  create  a  strong  confidence 
in  the  benignity  of  the  laws  that  regulate  human  affairs; 
to  inspire  a 'higher  degree  of  respect  and  reverence  for 
the  constituent  elements  of  human  nature;  and  to  give 
birth  to  that  sentiment  strongly  embodied  in  the  language, 
God,  I  thank  thee  that  I  am  a  man. 


(219) 


JOURNAL  OF  REV.  JOHN  TAYLOR. 


[In  the  year  1802,  the  Rev.  John  Taylor  undertook  a 
missionary  journey  through  the  Mohawk  and  Black  River 
country.  Such  portions  of  his  journal  as  relate  to  the 
vicinity  of  Albany  will  be  found  below.  See  Doc.  Hist. 

N.  Y.,  iii,  lio:,  etseq.] 

JuJy  21  st,  1802. — I  this  day  passed  thro’ the  affecting 
scene  of  parting  with  my  family,  for  the  term  of  three 
months,  to  journey  into  the  Northern  counties  of  New  York 
and  to  perform  the  duties  of  a  missionary.  I  expected 
to  have  obtained  some  information  respecting  the  north' 
ern  country  from  the  Revd  Mr  Field  of  Cherlamont,  but 
was  disappointed,  as  he  was  not  at  home.  Proceeded  from 
Cherlamont,  on  the  turnpike,  over  Ilousic  mountain. 
Having  passed  down  the  mountain  I  came  into  the  town 
of  Adams,  which  is  remarkable  for  limestone.  5  miles 
from  Adams  is  Williamstown — The  College  consists  of 
about  90  scholars — a  president  and  4  tutors.  There  are 
2  eligant  buildings — standing  on  elevated  ground  about 
40  rods  from  each  other.  I  put  up  with  Dr  Fitch — a 
valuable  man — and  has  an  agreeable  family. 

Travelled  this  day  about  40  miles.  Found  a  letter  at 
the  Revd  Eliph1  Nott’s,  directed  to  me,  from  the  Rev1 
Joseph  Lyman,  Hatfield.  Mr  Nott  being  on  a  journey  to 
Ballston  Spring,  the  boxes  of  books  which  I  expected  to  find 
with  him  were  still  in  the  possession  of  the  proprietors 
of  the  stage.  Was  charged  for  the  transportation  of  the 
books  at  the  rate  of  a  passenger,  which  was  $2.47.  Paid, 
also.  2s.  Penny  Post,  for  letters  sent  by  the  Post  Master 
to  Mr  Nott’s.  The  boxes  appear  to  be  sound,  having 
sustained  no  damage. 

22 — Left  Williamstown  about  8  o'clock — took  the  road 
to  Albany  across  the  mountains,  on  the  ground  of  the  ' 
proposed  turnpike.  After  passing  a  high  mountain,  came 


220 


Journal  of  Rev,  John  Taylor . 

into  a  valley,  and  into  the  town  of  Petersburg,  in  ye  state 
of  N.  York.  This  town  contains  about  2900  inhabitants. 
There  are  2  clihs.  of  Pedobaptists,  and  one  of  Saturday 
baptists.  After  passing  in  this  valley  about  3  miles,  I 
rose  another  mountain,  and  for  10  miles  found  a  most 
intolerable  road.  Passing  off  this  stony  and  hard  ground, 
I  came  down  into  Greenbush,  a  level  country — for  about 
4  miles  from  the  mountains  the  soil  appears  to  be  good 
— from  thence  to  the  river  it  is  too  sandy. 

Albany,  July  23,  at  Trobridge's. — At  11  o’clock  left 
Albany.  From  Albany  to  Schenectada  is  a  barren  sandy 
plain — the  road  very  bad  in  consequence  of  sand — but 
3  or  4  houses  in  (he  whole  17  miles.  Schenectada  makes 
a  singular  appearance,  being  built  in  the  old  Dutch  form 
— houses  in  general  but  one  story,  or  a  story  and  half, 
and  standing  endwise  to  the  street.  Its  local  situation 
is  excellent,  standing  upon  the  south  bank  of  the  Mohawk 
— and  there  appears  in  every  [thing]  a  simplicity,  and 
neatness  that  is  very  pleasing. 

Passed  the  Mohawk  at  Schenectada — found  an  excellent 
turnpike  for  about  ten  miles.  Some  very  good  meadow 
on  the  left.  The  country  in  general  level.  Soil,  except 
in  the  meadows,  a  hard  gravel,  not  very  productive. 
Fields  of  grain,  however,  appear  good.  People  in  the 
midst  of  harvest.  After  about  10  miles  from  Schenec¬ 
tada,  the  country  becomes  more  hilly.  As  v  e  pass  up 
the  river  into  Montgomery  county,  we  find  for  several 
miles  but  little  intervale;  what  there  is,  appears  to  be 
good.  On  Tripe’s  or  Tribe’s  hill,  about  20  miles  above 
Schenectady,  we  have  the  prospect  of  a  few  hundred  acres 
of  excellent  meadow,  which  was  formely  the  seat  of  the 
famous  Hendrick,  the  sachem  of  the  Mohawks.  The 
ancient  and  elegant  seat  of  Sir-William  Johnson  I  passed 
about  4  miles  back.  This  is  commonly  called  the  Old 
fort.  On  Tribe’s  hill,  I  had  great  satisfaction  and  plea¬ 
sure  of  meeting  a  Mr  Plum,  an  old  acquaintance  from 
Westfield,  and  was  treated  with  great  kindness  in  his 
family — tarried  with  him  until  Monday  the  25th  ;  received 
correct  and  considerable  intelligence  from  him  respecting 
the  country — especially  in  Montgomery  county. 


221 


Journal  of  Rev.  John  Taylor. 

There  is  an  apple  tree  on  this  hill,  which  I  am  credibly 
informed  produces  apples  without  a  core  or  seeds.  There 
is  also  in  this  town,  what  is  called  by  the  people  the 
Jerusalem  thorn.  There  is  also  a  singular  production 
called  mandrakes — of  which  I  have  taken  a  rough  drawing. 

This  place  appears  to  be  a  perfect  Babel,  as  to  lan¬ 
guage:  But  very  few  of  the  people,  I  believe,  would  be 
able  to  pronounce  Shibboleth.  The  articulation  even  of 
New-England  people,  is  injured  by  their  being  inter¬ 
mingled  with  the  Dutch',  Irish,  and  Scotch.  The  character 
of  the  Dutch  people,  even  on  first  acquaintance,  appears 
to  be  that  of  kindness  and  justice.  As  to  religion,  they 
know  but  little  about  it — and  are  extremely  superstitious. 
They  are  influenced  very  much  by  dreams,  and  apparitions. 
The  most  intelligent  of  them  seem  to  be  under  the 
influence  of  fear  from  that  cause.  The  High  Dutch 
have  some  singular  customs  with  regard  to  their  dead. 
When  a  person  dies,  nothing  will  influence  ye  connections, 
nor  any  other  person,  unless  essentially  necessary,  to 
touch  the  body.  When  the  funeral  is  appointed,  none 
attend  but  such  as  are  invited,  ^hen  the  corpse  is 
placed  in  the  street,  a  tune  is  sung  by  a  choir  of  singers 
appointed  for  the  purpose — and  continue  singing  until 
they  arrive  at  the  grave;  and  after  the  body  is  deposited, 
they  have  some  remarks  made — return  to  ye  house,  and 
in  general  get  drunk.  12  men  are  bearers — or  carriers 
— and  they  have  no  relief.  No  will  is  opened,  nor  debt 
paid,  until  6  weeks  from  ye  time  of  death. 

26 — Herkimer,  Little  Falls.  The  Albany  stage  arrived 
at  the  public  house  which  1  now  am  at,  1  o’clock  last 
night;  thro’  the  unaccountable  carelessness  of  the  driver, 
I  soon  found  that  the  small  box  of  books  was  missing, 

]  and  to  complete  my  misfortunes  and  anxiety,  I  found 
j  that,  contrary  to  my  directions,  the  boxes  had  been  placed 
behind  the  stage  from  Palatine,  and  that  the  bottom  of 
the  large  box  had  fallen  out,  and  that  all  the  books  were 
missing,  4  catechisms  only  excepted.  I  instantly  in¬ 
formed  the  stage  driver  what  the  property  was,  and  the 
condition  of  my  agreement  with  the  stage  owner  at 


h 


222 


Journal  of  Rev.  John  Taylor. 

Albany.  The  fellow  appeared  to  be  shocked,  and  went 
directly  back  3  miles,  but  found  nothing.  He  agreed 
with  a  man  to  go  back  at  daybreak,  and  he  himself  this 
morning  has  returned  down  the  river,  to  find  them  if 
possible,  and  has  not  yet  returned — it  is  now  ten  o’clock. 
The  shock  has  been  almost  too  much  for  my  weak  nerves, 
and  I  am  fearful  the  property  will  not  all  be  recovered. 
This  parish  contains  6  or  7  hundred  inhabitants.  They 
have  a  new  meeting-house,  but  do  not  improve  it.  In 
this  place  may  be  found  men  of  various  religious  sects. 
At  2  o’clock  the  stage  driver  returned,  having  fortunately 
recovered  all  the  books  which  the  large  box  contained. 

29th. — Utica  and  Whites- Borrough,  about  4  miles 
apart,  form  but  one  Presbyterian  congregation,  of  wrhich 
Mr  Dodd  is  the  minister.  The  boxes  of  Books  have  not 
come  on;  and  as  I  can  not  with  consistency  go  upon 
missionary  ground  again  until  they  arrive,  I  have  con¬ 
cluded  to  visit  Mr.  Dodd  of  Whitesborough,  and  Mr 
Norton  of  Clinton,  8  miles  from  the  river. 


(  223  ) 


HLSTOR  Y 

OF  THE 

THIRD  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH* 


The  Third  Presbyterian  Church  of  Albany  was  organ¬ 
ized  in  the  year  1817,  by  a  union  of  the  Associate  Re¬ 
formed  Church  with  a  number  of  members  from  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church. 

The  germ  of  the  Associate  Reformed  Church  can  be 
traced  as  far  back  as  1796.  It  was  not,  however,  re¬ 
gularly  constituted  by  the  ordination  of  ruling  elders 
till  the  second  sabbath  in  January,  1800,  when  it  was 
received  into  the  Associate  Reformed  Presbytery  of 
Washington.  Its  first  pastor  was  the  Rev.  Andrew  Wil¬ 
son,  then  recently  from  Ireland,  who  was  installed  over 
the  churches  of  Albany  and  Lansingburgh  in  April,  1802. 
In  March,  1804,  his  relation  to  the  church  of  Lansingburgh 
was  dissolved,  and  from  that  his  labors  were  confined  to 
the  church  of  Albany  till  September,  1807,  wThen  he 
obtained  his  dismission,  with  the  design  of  returning  to 
Ireland.  Abandoning  this  design,  he  was  subsequently 
settled  over  the  Associate  Reformed  Church  of  Seneca, 
where  he  died  in  June,  1812.  His  successor  over  the 
church  in  Albany  was  the  ReV.  John  McJimsey,  D.  D.; 
called  in  October,  1809:  installed  in  June,  1810;  and 
dismissed  in  October,  i813.  On  leaving  Albany,  Dr.. 
McJimsey  removed  to  Poughkeepsie,  where  for  several 
years  he  devoted  himself  to  teaching.  He  was  then. 

*  This  historical  sketch  of  the  Third  Presbyterian  Church  in 
Albany,  forms  the  appendix  to  two  sermons  preached  by  the  Rev.  E.  A. 
Huntington.  D.D.,  on  dissolving  his  connection  with  thatchurch.  The^ 
reader  is  referred  to  these  sermons,  and  to  the  dedicatory  sermon, 
preached  by  the  same  pastor  when  the  present  edifice  was  opened,  for. 
other  facts. 

[Annals,  vi.\  20 


224 


Third  Presbyterian  Church . 


settled  a  second  time  oyer  the  Associate  Reformed  Church 
known  as  Graham’s  Church,  in  Orange  county,  and  there, 
highly  esteemed  and  beloved,  he  attained  to  a  good  old 
age  and  died  in  the  summer  of  1854. 


Among  the  ruling  Elders  of  this  church  appear  the 
names  ot  John  Magoffin,  John  Hartness,  Peter  Muir  Mi¬ 
chael  Flack,  James  Hartness,  and  William  Meadon.  The 
iollovnng  is  a  catalogue  of  the  members  received  from 
some  time  before  the  year  1810,  probably  from  the  time 
oi  the  organization  of  the  church,  to  August  23,  1813: 

H  rr  -r-v  •  i 


Mary  Baird, 

Mary  Black, 

Jennet  Blakely, 
Elanor  Baxter, 

John  Campbell, 

Jean  Campbell, 
Alexander  Campbell, 
Margaret  Campbell, 
Mary  Campbell, 
William  Carlisle, 
Mary  Carlisle, 
Alexander  Carey. 
Jennet  Carey, 

Andrew  Conning, 
James  Gumming, 
Margaret  Cumming, 
John  Dierman, 

Donaldson, 


Robert  Dunn, 
Samuel  Edgar, 
Agnes  Edgar, 
Rosannah  Farnham, 
Henry  Farnham, 
Michael  Flack, 
Hannah  Flack, 
Agnes  Forrest, 
Archibald  Greive, 
Agnes  Greive, 
Samuel  Harbison, 


Mary  Harbison, 
James  Hartness, 
Sarah  Hartness, 
John  Hartness, 
Maria  Hartness, 
Martha  Humphrey, 
Nancy  Humphrey, 
Margaret  Kirkland, 
Grizzy  Lauderdale, 
Jennet  Luzier, 
David  Lyon, 

John  Magoffin, 
Catharine  Magoffin, 
James  Martin, 

Mary  Martin, 
Thomas  McAuley, 
Mary  McAuley, 
Catharine  McCoy, 
James  McElroy, 

.  Samuel  McElroy, 
James  McElroy,  Jr., 
Jean  McElroy, 
Elanor  McElroy, 
Elanor  McElroy, 
Esther  McElroy, 
Peter  McGibbons, 
William  McGill, 
Isabella  McGill, 

Anne  McJimsey, 


Third  Presbyterian  Church. 


225 


John  McLachlan, 
Agnes  McLachlan, 
Donald  McLeod, 
Margery  McLeod, 
John  McMillan, 
Andrew  McMullan, 
Jean  McMullan, 
James  McMullan, 
James  McMurray, 
Rachel  McMurray, 
Cornelia  McMillan, 
Jean  McMillan, 
William  Meadon, 
Robert  Minziers, 
Christiana  Minziers. 
John  Moore, 

Peter  Muir, 

Jennet  Muir, 

Jean  Muir, 

Jean  Muir, 

Anne  Oley, 

Martha  Parker, 


William  Philps, 
James  Robertson, 
Grizzy  Rutherford, 
James  Strange, 
Maxwell  Strange, 
Elizabeth  Strange, 
Agnes  Strange, 
Maria  Strain, 
William  Strain, 
Dennison  Shaw, 

- Shaw, 

Catharine  Stewart, 
John  Stewart, 

Paul  Spencer, 
Elizabeth  Storey, 
Michael  Strong, 
Mary  Strong, 

Ann  Van  Vrankin, 
John  Wade, 

Jean  Wade, 
Abraham  Weaver, 


Margaret  Weaver. 

Of  these  members,  but  two,  Maria  Hartness  and  Anne 
Oley,  survived,  and  continued  in  connection  with  the 
Third  Presbyterian  Church,  to  witness  the  dedication  of 
their  new  house  of  worship,  in  Clinton  Place,  December 
3,  1845.  Thomas  McAuley,  now  the  Rev.  Dr.  McAuley, 
became  professor  of  languages  in  Union  College,  and 
was  afterwards  settled  over  prominent  churches  in  Phila¬ 
delphia  and  New  York  where  he  was  for  many  years 
distinguished  for  his  eloquence. 

During  the  existence  of  the  Associate  Reformed  Church 
it  seems  never,  at  anyone  time,  to  have  consisted  of  more 
then  fifty  communicants,  nor  to  have  embraced  a  larger 
number  of  families  in  its  congregation. 

On  the  division  of  the  Associate  Reformed  Presbytery 
of  Washington,  this  church  was  connected  with  the  new 
Presbytery  of  Saratoga,  in  1808:  and  in  1809,  or  1810, 
was  transferred  to  the  Associate  Reformed  Presbytery  of 


226 


Third  Presbyterian  Church. 

New  York,  with  which  body  it  continued  *  ill  merged  in 
the  Third  Presbytorian  Church. 

The  immediate  occasion  of  the  organization  of  the 
Third  Presbyterian  Church,  was  the  desire  of  the  parties 
which  concurred  in  organizing  it,  to  enjoy  the  ministry 
of  the  Rev.  Hooper  Cumming.  After  the  necessary 
preliminary  proceedings,  through  committees  of  the 
Associate  Reformed  Church  on  the  one  side,  and  of  a 
large  body  of  citizens  on  the  other;  all  the  action  of  said 
committees  to  be  null  and  void  unless  Mr.  Cumming 
could  be  secured,  the  new  church,  in  the  midst  of  a  good 
deal  of  popular  excitement,  was  formed  in  the  usual  way 
and  ushered  into  legal  existence  by  the  recording  of  the 
certificate  of  the  election  of  trustees,  by  permission  of 
Chancellor  Kent,  in  clerk’s  office,  city  and  county  of 
Albany,  in  book  number  one  for  registering  certificates 
incorporating  religious  societies,  February  5,  1817. 

The  trustees,  elected  January  27,  1817,  were  William 
Eaton,  Joseph  Fry,  Isaac  Lucas,  James  Warren,  John 
McLachlan,  John  Shaw,  Hugh  Humphrey,  James  Cum¬ 
ming  and  John  Wade.  Of  these  men,  Hugh  Humphrey, 
previously,  in  the  Associate  Reformed  Church,  a  mem¬ 
ber  of  the  board  of  trustees,  was  elected  to  the  same 
office  again  in  1831,  and  has  remained  in  it  to  the  pre¬ 
sent  time,  since  1838,  as  president  of  the  board;  from 
youth  to  age,  through  the  long  period  of  nearly  fifty^ 
years,  amid  many  remarkable  vicissitudes  and  trials,  ever 
approving  himself  a  fast  friend  and  most  liberal  sup¬ 
porter  of  the  church  under  both  its  titles. 

Upon  a  memorial  from  the  new  Presbyterian  Church 
thus  regularly  constituted,  it  was  received  under  the  care 
of  the  Presbytery  of  Albany,  Feb.  18,  1817.  Already, 
at  a  meeting  of  the  church,  at  which  the  Rev.  Dr.  John 
Chester  presided,  had  a  call  been  made  upon  Mr.  Cum¬ 
ming  to  become  its  pastor,  and  the  means  had  been  secured 
to  pay  him  the  then  unprecedented  salary  of  two  thousand 
dollars  per  annum.  As  soon  as  the  church  was  received 
under  the  care  of  the  presbytery,  the  commissioners  of 
the  church,  according  to  form,  placed  said  call  at  thedis- 


Third  Presbyterian  Church .  22T 

position  of  the  presbytery ;  and  the  church  of  Schenectady* 
of  which  Mr.  Gumming  was  the  pastor,  declaring  that 
they  should  not  oppose  his  removal,  the  call  was  found 
in  order  and  put  into  his  hands,  whereupon  he  announced 
his  acceptance  of  it,  and  his  pastoral  relation  with  the 
church  of  Schenectady  was  accordingly  dissolved. 

At  this  stage  of  the  proceedings,  Elder  John  L.  Winne* 
a  delegate  from  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church,  Albany* 
stated  that  “common  fame”  charged  a  member  of  the 
presbytery  with  unchristian  walk,  and  moved  the  ap¬ 
pointment  of  a  committee  to  inquire  whether  the  charge 
was  of  a  nature  to  demand  the  notice  of  the  presbytery. 
Drs.  Nott,  and  Hosack,  and  Mr.  McCrca,  the  committee 
appointed  upon  this  motion,  reported  that  the  Rev. 
Hooper  Gumming  was  the  person  alluded  to,  that  he  was 
accused  of  plagiarism  in  preaching  other  men’s  com¬ 
position  as  his  own;  breach  of  the  promise  not  to  make 
so  free  use  as  he  had  made  of  other  men’s  labors ;  and 
deliberate  prevarication  and  falsehood,  particularly  in  de¬ 
claring  that  his  manuscripts  had  been  submitted  to  the 
chancellor  of  the  state,  who  had  compared  them  wTith 
Toplady,  and  acquitted  him  of  the  plagiarism  imputed. 
The  committee  stated  in  their  explanatory  remarks  that 
nothing  had  appeared  before  them  to  justify  an  additional 
charge  of  intemperance,  however  Mr.  C.  might  need 
private  caution  and  advice  on  that  subject,  but  that 
presbytery  could  not,  without  a  violation  of  its  trust, 
suffer  the  charges  specified  to  pass  without  a  judicial  in¬ 
vestigation,  alike  for  the  honor  of  religion  and  to  afford 
the  individual  impeached  an  opportunity  to  vindicate  his 
character  if  assailed  without  cause. 

This  report  of  the  committee  wTas  accepted  and  put 
into  the  hands  of  Mr.  Cumming.  The  trial,  at  his 
solicitation,  was  deferred  to  the  fourth  Tuesday  of  the 
following  April.  Dr.  Hosack  and  Elder  McCrea  were 
appointed  to  conduct  the  trial  on  the  part  of  the  pres¬ 
bytery. 

But  before  the  presbytery  adjourned  a  counter-move¬ 
ment  was  made  by  the  friends  of  Mr.  Cumming.  William 


228 


Third  Presbyterian  Church . 

Eaton,  Isaac  Lucas,  and  John  T.  B.  Graham,  the  com- 
missioners  .from  the  Third  Presbyterian  Church  to 
prosecute  its  call  upon  Mr.  Cumming,  stated,  in  a  written 
communication  to  presbytery,  that  “  common  fame” 
charged  the  Bev.  John  Chester,  and  Mr.  Mark  Tucker, 
then  studying  for  the  ministry,  with  conduct  unbecoming 
the  Christian  character,  and  respectfully  requested  pres¬ 
bytery  to  investigate  the  matter.  In  compliance  with 
this  request,  Dr.  Nott,  Rev.  Mr.  Halliday  and  Mr.  Kelly 
were  appointed  a  committee  of  inquiry  to  report  at  a 
subsequent  meeting,  whereupon  presbytery  adjourned. 

This  committee,  at  the  next  meeting  of  presbytery 
convened  in  Albany,  March  14,  1817,  by  the  moderator. 
Dr.  Nott,  who  was  also  chairman  of  the  committee,  re¬ 
ported  that  “common  fame”  charged  the  Rev.  John  Ches¬ 
ter  with  industriously  circulating  reports  of  plagiarism 
and  intoxication  against  the  Bev.  Hooper  Cumming,  and 
of  falsehood  in  denying  the  circulation  of  the  report  of 
intoxication.  The  committee,  moreover,  reported  like 
charges  against  Mr.  Mark  Tucker.  Presbytery  resolved 
therefore  to  institute  a  trial  of  Mr.  Tucker  and  of  Dr. 
Chester,  Dr.  Chester's  trial  to  be  taken  up  first  in  order, 
on  the  8th  of  April. 

It  is  obvious  from  the  charges  against  Dr.  Chester  that 
his  trial  could  have  been  only  what  it  proved  to  be,  an 
indirect  trial  of  Mr.  Cumming.  The  acquittal  of  Dr. 
Chester — and  his  acquittal  was  morally  certain — would 
be  the  condemnation  of  Mr.  Cumming  without  a  hearing. 
But  there  was  no  alternative.  The  eighth  of  April  came. 
The  presbytery  met  according  to  adjournment  in  the 
First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Albany,  and  the  trial  of  Dr. 
Chester  commenced,  awakening  the  deepest  interest  in 
the  public  mind. 

The  Bev.  Drs.  Bradford  and  De  Witt  of  the  Dutch 
churches  of  Albany,  and  the  Bev.  Drs.  Coe  and  Blatch- 
ford  of  the  Presbyterian  churches  of  Troy  and  Lansing- 
burgh,  attended  the  meeting  of  the  presbytery  as  corre¬ 
sponding  members.  Indeed,  that  the  sympathy — to  use  no 
stronger  term— of  all  classes  of  the  community  was  drawn 


Third  Presbyterian  Church .  229 

out  by  the  occasion,  may  be  inferred  from  the  names  of 
the  witnesses:  Dr.  Nott,  Dr.  Hosack,  Isaac  Hutton, 
Uriah  Marvin,  Rev.  H.  Cumming,.  Dr.  Willard  and  wife, 
Abraham  Eights,  Chancellor  Kent,  Charles  R.  Webster, 
Theodorus  V.  W.  Graham,  Gilbert  Stewart,  E.  F.  Backus, 
John  L.  Winne,  J.  Boardman,  Mark  Tucker,  Major  I. 
Smith,  J.  Warren  and  Chester  Buckley.  The  church 
where  the  presbytery  met  was  crowded  to  its  utmost 
capacity.  A  committee  of  twenty  or  thirty  gentlemen 
attended  Mr.  Cumming  to  and  from  the  place,  and  sat 
with  him  during  the  sessions  of  the  court,  and  often 
counseled  with  him  till  midnight  in  his  own  house.  He 
was  the  universal  topic  of  conversation,  not  always  quite 
peaceful,  in  the  markets  and  at  the  corners  of  the  streets. 
It  may  be  questioned  whether  any  thing  of  the  kind,  un¬ 
less  it  be  the  comparatively  recent  trial,  in  a  neighboring 
city,  of  a  conspicuous  member  of  another  denomination, 
has  ever  in  the  ecclesiastical  affairs  of  this  country 
aroused  more  intense  or  unprofitable  feeling. 

The  moderator  of  the  presbytery,  President  Nott,  then 
in  the  meridian  of  his  splendid  life,  opened  the  court  with 
an  address  on  the  doctrine  of  slander;  one  of  the  most 
lucid  and  discriminating  and  comprehensive  and  satis¬ 
factory  disquisitions  on  that  subject  to  be  found  in  the 
language.  As  a  literary  essay  it  is  worthy  of  a  Foster. 
As  a  judicial  utterance  it  is  worthy  of  a  Marshal.  Dr. 
Chester  followed  with  a  statement  of  his  own  view  of 
the  facts  which  induced  the  charges  against  him,  and  of 
the  course  which  he  intended  to  pursue  in  vindication  of 
his  conduct.  This,  too,  is  an  exquisite  specimen  of  its 
kind,  simple,  perspicuous,  in  some  passages  touchingly 
eloquent,  evincing  throughout  a  frank,  generous,  forgiv¬ 
ing  spirit,  and  throughout  adapted  to  prepossess  the 
court  strongly  in  his  favor.  During  the  progress  of  the 
examination  which  then  began  of  the  witnesses  in  the 
case,  it  became  more  and  more  manifest  that  the  character 
of  Mr.  Cumming  was  suffering  from  their  testimony.  He 
and  his  friends  grew  more  and  more  uneasy  and  irritated. 
They  construed  his  exclusion  as  a  witness  while  the 


230  Third  Presbyterian  Church . 

testimony  of  the  preceding  witnesses  was  taken,  into  a 
deliberate  and  malicious  attempt  to  blast  his  reputation 
behind  his  back.  And  when  he  was  called  to  the  stand 
and  the  moderator  expressed  the  belief  that  he  was  in¬ 
sane,  as  a  reason  for  declining  to  administer  the  usual 
oath  to  him,  his  numerous  and  earnest  supporters  with 
himself  were  exasperated  beyond  measure,  convinced 
that  he  was  unrighteously  and  unmercifully  persecuted. 
At  one  time  they  withdrew  in  a  body  from  the  house 
leaving  it  almost  empty.  At  another  time  Mr.  Gumming 
presented  to  the  presbytery  an  indignant  remonstrance 
against  the  course  which  the  trial  had  been  allowed  or 
made  to  take;  a  statement  of  grievances,  methodically 
arranged,  and  skillfully  and  powerfully  urged,  shovving 
at  least  one  thing,  that  he  could,  if  he  did  not,  write  his 
own  sermons.  He  then  moved  that  the  trial  of  Dr. 
Chester  should  be  commenced  de  novo ,  and  conducted  in 
a  manner  which  should  not  implicate  the  character 
either  of  himself  or  Mr.  Tucker;  and  speaking  to  this 
motion,  and  on  other  occasions,  he  dealt  out  eloquent  in¬ 
vectives,  sometimes  severely  personal,  in  which  he  like¬ 
wise  displayed  not  only  the  consummate  orator  but  the 
resources  of  a  highly  gifted  and  cultivated  mind.  It 
appeared,  however,  most  plainly,  that  Dr.  Chester  was 
innocent,  as  he  was  unanimously  declared  to  be. 

Mr.  Tucker,  too,  after  a  trial  altogether  similar  in  its 
incidents  and  developments  to  that  of  Dr.  Chester,  was 
fully  exculpated,  and  the  presbytery  adjourned,  to  meet 
in  Schenectady,  April  22,  1817. 

At  that  meeting,  it  was  the  designated  business  of 
presbytery  to  proceed  to  the  direct  trial  of  Mr.  Cumming. 
But  he  did  not  appear.  His  people  advised  him  to  stay 
away,  while  they  presented  a  memorial,  worthy  of  any 
man's  head  and  heart,  praying  presbytery  to  discontinue 
all  further  proceedings  against  him,  and  to  take  measures 
for  his  immediate  installation.  A  letter  from  his  father 
was  also  read,  expressing  the  conviction  that  he  had 
been  suffering  under  a  kind  of  derangement,  from  the 
time  of  the  sudden  death  of  his  first  wife.  After  some 


Third  Presbyterian  Church.  231 

other  transactions,  among  which  it  was  resolved  to  add 
the  charge  of  intemperance  to  the  charges  originally 
tabled  against  Mr.  Cumming,  presbytery  again  ad¬ 
journed. 

At  the  next  meeting,  in  Schenectady,  July  24,  1817, 
twelve  commissioners,  appointed  by  the  Third  Presby¬ 
terian  Church,  appeared,  to  assist  in  conducting  the  trial 
of  Mr.  Cumming,  and  to  act,  of  course,  in  his  defense. 
An  interesting  letter  from  the  Rev.  Dr.  E.  D.  Griffin, 
then  of  Newark,  N.  J.,  tvas  read,  affirming  that  any 
physician  in  America  would  pronounce  Mr.  Cumming  in 
a  considerable  degree  insane,  and  that  those  who  knew 
him  best  were  persuaded  that  he  needed  “the  balm 
of  sympathy  and  kindness,  rather  than  the  rod  of 
discipline.  ”  But  his  people  introduced  witnesses  to 
show,  that,  since  he  had  been  their  pastor  elect,  he  had 
exhibited  no  signs  of  insanity,  except  (according  to  the 
testimony  of  Elder  Aaron  Hand)  during  the  excitement 
of  the  trial  of  Dr.  Chester,  and  that  to  call  him  mad 
appeared  to  them  supremely  ridiculous.  Mr.  Cumming 
himself  addressed  a  letter  to  presbytery,  evincing,  at  all 
events,  that  there  was  “method  in  his  madness,” 
uniting  with  his  people  in  urging  presbytery  to  stop  his 
trial  and  at  once  to  install  him.  Minutes  of  the  Pres¬ 
bytery  of  Jersey,  December  13,  1814,  having  respect  to 
the  previous  conduct  of  Mr.  Cumming,  and  bearing  on 
the  question  of  his  sanity,  were  also  produced,  together 
with  certain  testimony  obtained  by  his  father,  and 
minutes  of  the  Associate  Reformed  Presbytery  of  New 
York,  and  of  the  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia,  April  15, 
1817.  Two  other  letters  from  Dr.  Griffin,  full  of  tender, 
paternal  sympathy  for  Mr.  Cumming,  reaffirming  his  in¬ 
sanity  with  additional  proof  of  it,  must  have  had  great 
weight  to  induce  presbytery  to  follow  the  suggestion, 
which  they  made,  to  allow  him  to  withdraw  from  its 
jurisdiction,  presbytery  simply  recording  the  fact  and 
assigning  his  derangement  as  a  reason  for  taking  no 
further  steps  in  his  case.  Accordingly,  the  following 
resolutions,  presented  by  the  Rev.  A.  J.  Stansbury,  were 
finally  adopted: 


232  .  Third  Presbyterian  Church . 

“  Resolved,  That  this  presbytery  do  not  view  the  Rev. 
Hooper  Cumming  as  a  fit  subject  for  discipline. 

Resolved,  That  the  further  prosecution  of  the  libel 
now  pending  be  dispensed  with. 

Resolved,  That  the  request  of  the  Third  Church, 
for  Mr.  Cumming’s  installation,  be  not  granted.” 

Before  the  adoption  of  a  fourth  resolution,  declaring 
the  presbytery  no  longer  responsible  for  the  acts  of  Mr. 
Cumming,  Elder  Hand  presented  a  paper  from  the  com¬ 
missioners  of  the  Third  Church,  requesting,  in  the  event 
of  the  refusal  of  the  presbytery  to  install  Mr.  Cumming, 
that  the  said  church  and  their  pastor  be  regularly  dis¬ 
missed  from  said  presbytery;  whereupon  the  church  was 
regularly  dismissed  just  about  five  months  after  its  re¬ 
ception  by  that  body;  and  respecting  the  corresponding 
request  of  Mr.  Cumming  it  was  “ Resolved ,  That  the  Rev. 
Hooper  Cumming,  against  whom  certain  charges  have 
been  preferred,  but  who,  as  this  presbytery  have  probable 
grounds  to  believe,  labors  under  a  partial  derangement 
of  mind,  and  has  for  that  reason  been  adjudged  an  unfit 
subject  for  discipline,  be  permitted,  at  his  own  request,  to 
withdraw  from  all  further  connection  with  this  pres¬ 
bytery;  but  that  it  is  not  in  the  power  of  this  presbytery 
to  pronounce  him  in  regular  standing,  or  to  hold  them¬ 
selves,  in  any  wise,  responsible  for  his  future  acts,  either 
public  or  private.”  From  this  action,  Mr.  Cumming 
together  with  the  elders  and  trustees  of  the  Third  Church 
appealed  to  the  Synod  of  Albany,  but  without  effect, 
although  the  course  of  the  presbytery  was  not  altogether 
approved  by  the  superior  judicatory. 

The  result  of  the  remarkable  and  painful  trials,  thus 
brought  to  a  close,  was  to  confirm,  in  the  minds  of  a  large 
and  influential  class  of  citizens,  the  impression  which 
they  had  before  received,  and  which  can  not  now  be  re¬ 
sisted  by  the  warmest  surviving  friends  of  Hooper  Cum¬ 
ming  when  calmly  and  dispassionately  recalling  what 
they  saw  and  knew  of  him,  that  he  was  in  the  habit  of 
making  a  free  use  in  the  pulpit  of  other  men’s  sermons, 
sometimes  defending  the  habit  to  the  extent  to  which  he 


233 


Third  Presbyterian  Church. 

was  willing  to  acknowledge  it,  and  sometimes  denying  it 
altogether.  He  undoubtedly,  in  one  instance,  published 
as  his  own  a  sermon  of  Dr.  Nott’s,  and  with  few  and 
unimportant  variations.  It  is  just  as  evident  that  Mr. 
Cumming  indulged,  to  the  injury  of  his  fame  and  useful¬ 
ness,  in  intoxicating  drinks;  and  certainly  the  most 
charitable  light  in  which  his  conduct  can  be  viewed  is 
that  he  was  not  in  all  respects,  at  ail  times,  perfectly 
himself,  that  he  never  wholly  recovered  from  the  violent 
shock  which  he  must  have  experienced  at  the  sight  of 
the  instantaneous  and  terrible  death  of  the  loved  and 
lovely  wife*  of  his  youth. 

But  shortly  after  his  dismission  from  the  Church  of 
Schenectady,  on  the  first  sabbath,  the  third  clay  of  March, 
Mr.  Cumming  had  assumed  the  charge  of  the  Third 
Church  of  Albany,  and  notwithstanding  the  progress  of 
the  foregoing  trials  and  the  faults  which  they  were 
gradually  unfolding  to  the  public  gaze  in  his  character, 
his  preaching  attracted  constantly  increasing  numbers  of 
intelligent  and  enthusiastic  hearers.  The  building,  now 
the  Bethel  in  Montgomery  street,  transferred  by  the  old 
to  the  new  church,  was  uniformly  thronged.  Long  before 
the  hour  of  service,  of  a  sabbath  morning  or  afternoon, 
the  people  might  be  seen  flowing  down  Columbia  street, 
and  through  Montgomery,  like  streams  of  water.  In 
summer,  the  open  windows  would  be  full  of  earnest  faces. 
The  steps  leading  from  the  gallery  into  the  attic  were 
often  crowded  to  the  very  ceiling.  It  was  estimated  that 
at  least  fifteen  hundred  souls  attached  themselves  to  Mr. 
Cumming's  congregation,  in  the  course  of  a  few  weeks, 
though  not  much  more  than  half  that  number  could  be 
seated  at  the  same  time  in  his  church.  Nor  did  the  tide 
of  his  popularity  abate  as  rapidly  as  it  rose.  It  continued 
without  any  perceptible  diminution  for  three  or  four  years, 
and,  to  the  end  of  his  ministry  of  six  years  in  Albany, 
his  house  was  uniformly  full,  though  not  at  last  over¬ 
flowing,  whenever  he  officiated.  His  admirers,  stoutly 

*  Mrs.  Cumming  was  precipitated  from  the  Passaic  Falls,  while 
viewing  them  in  company  with  her  husband. 


234 


Third  Presbyterian  Church . 

maintaining  his  temperance  were  nevertheless  accustomed 
extravagantly  to  say,  that,  granting  his  intemperance, 
they  would  rather  hear  Hooper  Camming  when  drunk 
than  any  other  man  when  sober;  or,  unable  to  blind  their 
eyes  to  his  inebriety,  they  would  mournfully  declare  that, 
when  he  was  in  the  pulpit  it  seemed  as  if  he  ought  never 
to  come  out,  and  when  out  as  if  he  ought  never  to  go  in. 

To  account  for  such  a  triumph  over  the  mighty 
obstacles  which  were  thrown  up  before  him,  in  part,  at 
least,  by  his  own  hands,  it  is  sufficient  to  remember  Mr. 
Cumming’s  wonderful  natural  gifts ;  the  manly  beauty 
of  his  person,  the  indescribable  melody  of  his  voice,  his 
perfect  elocution  and  action,  with  which  the  severest 
critic  could  find  no  fault,  his  by  no  means  inferior  in¬ 
tellectual  powers,  and  the  delicate  susceptibility  of  his 
emotions  and  passions  answering  ever  spontaneously  and 
promptly  to  the  demands  of  all  the  various  subjects 
which  might  occupy  his  mind.  Besides,  he  received  a 
finished  literary  and  theological  education.  He  was  a 
pupil  and  resided  in  the  family  and  listened  to  the 
preaching  of  the  celebrated  Dr.  Griffin,  one  of  the 
greatest  pulpit  orators  which  this  country  has  produced; 
and  Dr.  Griffin  testifies  that  he  was  at  that  time  “more 
beloved  than  any  young  man  he  ever  knew,”  that  “  his 
very  servants  idolized  him,”  that  he  was  “  most  amiable 
in  his  disposition  and  correct  in  his  conduct.  ”  Of 
course,  there  is  every  reason  for  believing  that  he  dili¬ 
gently  improved  his  unequaled  advantages.  His  native 
ease  and  grace  of  manner,  and  all  his  social  qualities, 
were  cultivated  in  the  best  of  families,  while  his  affec¬ 
tions  were  directed  to  their  most  worthy  object,  and  his 
imagination  and  understanding  were  replenished  and 
expanded,  and  invigorated  with  their  most  healthful 
aliment,  by  one  who  was  alike  the  attraction  and  the 
ornament  of  the  domestic  circle  and  the  house  of  God. 

But  by  far  the  most  extraordinary  effect  of  Hooper 
Cumming’s  preaching  is  more  difficult  to  be  explained. 
The  Associate  Reformed  Church,  at  the  time  it  became 
the  Third  Presbyterian  Church,  consisted  of  forty-four 


Third  Presbyterian  Church.  235 

members  whose  names  appear  on  the  catalogue  already 
given.  To  these  were  added,  at  the  first  administration 
of  the  Lord’s  Supper,  June  22,  1817,  twenty  on  cer¬ 
tificate  from  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  seven  on 
certificate  from  other  churches,  and  eight  on  confession 
of  their  faith.  Thus  the  new  church  began  with  seventy- 
nine  members.  From  this  beginning,  the  number  of 
communicants  increased,  in  two  years  and  seven  months, 
to  two  hundred  and  seven,  of  whom  one  hundred  and 
forty-five  had  never  before  made  a  profession  of  religion. 
That  is,  more  than  fifty  newly  converted  persons  had 
thus  far  been  added  annually  to  the  church  through  the 
instrumentality  of  Mr.  Cumming;  and  this  too  in  the 
use  of  the  ordinary  means  of  grace,  before  the  day  of 
protracted  meetings  and  winter  revivals.  For  six  years, 
in  no  instance  were  less  than  four  at  once  admitted  on 
confession  to  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord’s  supper;  it  was 
quite  a  matter  of  course  to  see  eight  or  ten  sitting  down 
together  for  the  first  time  at  the  Lord’s  table;  and  the 
largest  number  received  on  the  same  occasion  was  thirty- 
three.  To  within  six  months  of  the  close  of  Mr.  Cum- 
ming’s  ministry  in  Albany,  his  church  seems  to  have 
been  constantly  in  a  state  of  wholesome  religious  vitality 
and  growth.  Two  hundred  and  fifteen  in  all  were 
gathered  out  of  the  world  under  his  preaching,  during 
the  period  of  six  years,  or  an  annual  average  of  between 
thirty  and  forty.  Nor  is  there  a  particle  of  evidence 
that  they  were  unduly  solicited  to  name  the  name  of 
Christ,  or  that  when  they  applied  for  the  privilege  of 
bearing  his  cross  it  was  granted  without  a  careful  ex¬ 
amination  of  their  Christian  knowledge  and  experience. 
The  Third  Church  was  guarded  by  faithful  elders,  Isaac 
Lucas,  William  Meadon,  and  Aaron  Hand,  elected  June 
3,  1817,  and  ordained  June  8,  1817,  the  last  two  of  whom 
were  “  counted  worthy  of  double  honor”  both  for  their 
preeminent  fitness  and  their  successful  efforts  to  “rule 
well.”  They  were  men  of  piety  and  discretion.  Mr. 
Meadon  had  been  educated  for  the  ministry,  and  seems 
to  have  been  admirably  qualified  to  probe  the  conscience- 
[Annals,  vi.\  21 


236  Third  Presbyterian  Church. 

and  test  the  principles  of  those  whose  religious  character 
it  was  his  office  to  judge;  and  both  the  elders  and  pastor 
attended  regularly  to  the  catechetical  and  scriptural 
instruction  of  the  youth  of  the  congregation.  Besides, 
not  a  few,  who  traced  their  decisive  religious  impressions 
to  Hooper  Cumming,  have  died,  giving  every  desirable 
token  of  the  genuineness  of  their  interest  in  the  truth 
as  it  is  in  Jesus,  and  others  yet  remain  whose  walk  and 
conversation  none  can  censure.  To  account  for  this 
perhaps  unprecedented  phenomenon,  some  may  think  it 
enough  to  say  that  God  blesses  his  Word  whosoever 
preaches  it,  an  angel  of  light  or  an  angel  of  darkness. 
But  others  will  hesitate  to  prescribe  limits  to  divine  grace, 
and  will  leniently  rank  Hooper  Cumming  with  Noah  and 
Peter,  whose  faith  failed  not  though  Satan  gained  an 
advantage  over  them  in  his  desire  to  have  them.  It  will 
ever  seem  to  many,  while  they  live,  that  Hooper  Cum- 
ming’s  sins  were  palliated  by  his  shattered  reason,  that 
under  different  circumstances  with  different  treatment  he 
would  not  have  been  so  easily  overcome  by  them,  that 
in  spite  of  them  he  was  a  sincere  and  humble  disciple  of 
Him  who  came  to  seek  and  save  the  chief  of  sinners, 
and  an  honest,  fervent  preacher  of  the  glorious  gospel. 
Two  hundred  and  fifteen  souls,  or  as  manv  of  them  as 
ma}r  reasonably  be  supposed  to  have  been  born  again, 
the  fruit  of  one  man’s  ministry  during  the  brief  period  of 
six  years,  will  shine  as  a  diadem  of  precious  jewels  in 
heaven.  Is  it  forbidden  to  mortals,  the  best  of  whom 
can  only  be  redeemed  by  grace,  to  hope  that  he  who, 
notwithstanding  all  his  faults,  was  employed  to  fabricate 
such  a  diadem  may  be  there  to  wear  it?  At  all  events, 
it  may  be  wise  for  the  most  sober,  exemplary  minister  of 
our  day,  before  condemning  Hooper  Cumming,  to  ask 
himself  if  he  is  quite  sure  that  he  would  not  have  yielded 
to  the  same  insidious  and  incessant  temptations.  That 
man  must  know  himself  well,  or  not  at  all,  who  would 
expose  himself  without  a  misgiving  to  the  social  usages 
of  the  past  generation;  and  that  man,  who,  thus  exposed 
and  still  maintaining  his  integrity,  should  refuse  or  for- 


237 


Third  Presbyterian  Church. 

0 

get  to  ascribe  the  praise  to  a  higher  than  human  power, 
would  but  evince  the  self  righteousness  of  the  Pharisee 
instead  of  the  self  indulgence  of  the  glutton  or  the  wine- 
bibber,  the  former  sin  certainly  not  less  odious  than  the 
latter  in  the  sight  of  the  Searcher  of  Hearts. 

Mr.  Cumming  resigned  the  charge  of  the  Third  Church, 
in  May  1823,  in  order  to  accept  a  call  to  the  United  Pres¬ 
byterian  Church  in  the  city  of  New  York;  where,  after 
preaching  a  few  years  more,  his  health  became  seriously 
impaired,  and,  hoping  to  derive  benefit  from  a  milder 
climate,  he  visited  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  only  tc 
die,  a  stranger  at  an  inn,  and  to  find  a  stranger’s  grave. 

As  might  have  been  expected,  the  congregation  of  the 
Third  Church  began  at  once  to  diminish,  upon  the  resigna¬ 
tion  of  Hooper  Cumming,  by  the  departure  of  those  who 
had  been  drawn  together  solely  by  his  personal  attrac¬ 
tions.  Other  causes,  moreover,  had  before  begun,  and 
thenceforth  continued,  to  operate  against  its  prosperity. 
The  location  of  its  house  of  worship  became  every  year 
less  and  less  eligible.  A  frequent  change  of  pastors  was 
the  consequence  and  aggravation  of  some  evils,  and  the 
occasion  of  more.  Although  the  church,  from  time  to 
time,  especially  under  the  ministry  of  the  “  beloved” 
Williams,  whose  influence  over  the  young  was  equally 
powerful  and  salutary,  received  signal  tokens  of  the  divine 
favor,  yet  on  the  whole  it  declined  till  1835,  when  upon 
the  resignation  of  the  Rev.  Wm.  James,  D.  D  ,  it  was 
supposed  by  many  to  be  “as  good  as  dead.”  But  from 
that  extremity  of  its  desolation  it  began  slowly  to  recover. 
In  1844,  the  resolution  was  taken  to  erect,  on  Clinton 
Square,  a  new  house  of  worship,  of  which  the  corner¬ 
stone  was  laid  in  July  of  that  year.  This  house,  which 
with  the  lot  cost  about  twenty-four  thousand  dollars,  was 
dedicated  Dec.  3.  1845.  For  the  means  of  accomplishing 
what  was  to  them  a  great  work,  and,  in  the  judgment  of 
wise  men  familiar  with  their  resources,  not  barely  hazar- 
dous  but  impossible,  the  people  of  the  Third  Church  are 
deeply  indebted  to  the  countenance  and  liberality  of  the 
pastors  and  people  of  the  First  and  Second  Churches  and 


238 


Third  Presbyterian  Church. 

of  other  citizens.  The  voluntary  and  unexpected  and 
successful  effort  of  the  Hon.  Greene  C.  Bronson,  and 
Thomas  W.  Olcott,  Esq.,  to  collect  two  thousand  dollars 
in  order  to  liquidate  the  floating  debt  by  which  the 
church  was  embarrassed  upon  the  completion  of  its  new 
edifice,  will  ever  be  gratefully  remembered.  At  that 
time  the  church  wasdeft  under  a  mortgage  of  six  thousand 
dollars,  which,  in  1850,  was  reduced  to  twenty-five  hund¬ 
red  dollars. 

The  first  of  the  preceding  discourses  contains  the 
writer’s  view  of  the  present  condition  and  prospects  of 
the  Third  Presbyterian  Church,  granting  to  its  members 
only  “faith  and  a  good  conscience”  with  the  blessing  of 
God.  On  account  of  its  long-continued  reverses,  there 
are  those  who  occasionally  indulge  and  express  the  hea¬ 
then  superstition  that  the  connection  of  this  church  with 
Hooper  Cumming  is  a  blight  and  a  curse  upon  it.  It  is 
true  indeed  that  God  will  visit  the  iniquities  of  the  fathers 
upon  the  children  unto  the  third  and  fourth  generation 
of  them  that  hate  him.  But  God  himself  likewise 
declares,  that  if  his  people  of  any  generation  walk  in  his 
fear,  loving  and  serving  Him  with  all  their  heart,  they 
shall  never  have  reason  to  take  up  the  proverb,  “The 
fathers  have  eaten  sour  grapes,  and  the  children’s  teeth 
are  set  on  edge.”  Both  fathers  and  children  shall  die 
each  in  their  own  personal  iniquities,  or  live  each  in 
their  own  personal  righteousness,  the  righteousness  which 
is  by  faith  in  Jesus  Christ.  Of  all  that  generation  which 
provoked  God — if  provocation  it  must  be  called — by  their 
devotion  to  his  worthy  or  unworthy  ambassador,  hardly  a 
Caleb  and  a  Joshua  survive.  A  new  generation,  guiltless 
of  that  transgression,  has  arisen  which  none  but  Moabiies 
would  exclude  from  the  land  of  promise,  and  in  that  land 
none  but  Philistines  would  distress  and  destroy  them. 
They  have  all  needful  tokens  that  their  brethren  around 
them  look  hopefully  upon  them,  follow  them  with  good 
wishes,  and  delight  to  encourage  them  in  the  “work  and 
labor  of  love.”  Their  long  experience,  albeit  in  “the 
waste,  howling  wilderness,”  assures  them  that  their 


Third  Presbyterian  Church .  239 

faithful  and  unchanging  God,”  who  has  “led  them  about, 
instructed  them  and  kept  them  as  the  apple  of  his  eye” 
to  this  day,  “will  never  leave  nor  forsake”  them. 

After  Mr.  Cumming  was  dismissed,  the  Third  Church 
applied,  in  July,  1823,  to  be  readmitted  into  the  Pres¬ 
bytery  of  Albany,  and  was  received  with  parental  for¬ 
giveness  and  kindness  by  that  reverend  body,  to  which 
it  has  since  commended  itself  as  a  peaceful,  affectionate 
and  obedient  child.  Nev^r  infected  by  “  divers  and 
strange  doctrines,”  never  indulging  any  other  hope  for 
the  world  than  “the. faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints,” 
this  church  can  appeal  to  its  history  for  proof  of  its 
unwavering  attachment  to  the  confession  and  order  and 
discipline  of  the  great  evangelical  denomination  to  which 
it  belongs. 

Seven  hundred  and  twelve  members  have  been  admitted 
to  the  communion  of  the  Third  Church  since  its  organiza¬ 
tion;  two  hundred  and  seventy-four  on  certificate  from 
other  churches,  and  four  hundred  and  thirty-eight  on 
confession  of  their  faith.  There  are  now  on  its  roll  one 
hundred  and  ninety-four,  of  whom  about  one  hundred  and 
fifty  are  residents  in  Albany,  and  in  “good  and  regular 
standing.”  It  is  known  that  seven  members  of  this  church 
have  become  ministers  of  the  gospel:  Thomas  McAuley, 
John  Yeomans,  Chauncey  Webster,  James  Harlow,  Aaron 
Hicks  Hand,  Charles  Huntington  and  Joel  Huntington, 
the  last  of  whom  was  the  first  to  be  taken  away.  The 
rest  are  still  living. 

The  contributions  of  the  Third  Church,  since  1841, 
have  been,  for  its  own  purposes,  and  not  including  aid 
received  in  ^building  from  other  churches,  $26,680;  for 
other  benevolent  objects,  since  1838,  $7900.  Previous 
to  the  foregoing  dates,  records  of  contributions  are  im¬ 
perfect. 


240  Third  Presbyterian  Church . 

Pastors  of  the  Third  Presbyterian  Church,  after 

Hooper  Cumming, 

Rev.  Joseph  Hulbert,  ordained  and  installed,  Oct.  29, 
1823;  dismissed,  Oct.  8,  1824. 

Rev.  John  Alburtiss,  installed,  Jan.  12,  1825;  dismissed, 
June  3,  1828. 

Rev.  William  H.  Williams,  ordained  and  installed,  Dec. 
9,  1828;  dismissed,  Sept.  9,  1830. 

Rev.  William  Lochead,  installed  Feb.  2,  1831;  dis¬ 
missed,  Oct.  22,  1833. 

Rev.  William  James,  D.  D.,  installed  the  2d  Wednesday 
in  March  1834;  dismissed,  Feb.  6,  1835. 

Rev.  Ezra  A.  Huntington,  D.  D.,  ordained  and  in¬ 
stalled,  Feb.  9,  1837;  dismissed,  Jan.  10,  1855. 

Ruling  Elders  : 

Isaac  Lucas,  ordained,  June  8,  1817. 

William  Meadon,  ordained,  June  8,  1817. 

Aaron  Hand,  ordained,  June  8,  1827. 

Sylvanus  B.  Pond,  ordained,  January  18,  1829. 

Charles  A.  Keeler,  ordained,  April  21,  1833. 

Anthony  Gould,  ordained,  April  21,  1833. 

James  Hartness,  ordained,  February  22,  1835. 

Isaac  P.  Hand,  ordained,  February  22,  1835. 

John  Rodgers,  ordained,  October  6,  1838. 

Austin  H.  Wells,  ordained,  April  28,  1850. 

William  B.  Sims,  ordained,  February  19,  1854. 

Sumner  C.  Webb,  ordained,  February,  19,  1854. 

The  last  four  constitue  the  present  Session. 

trustees. 

Elected  Jan.  27,  1817. — John  McLachlan  (pres.),  Wm. 
Eaton,  Joseph  Fry,  Isaac  Lucas,  James  Warren,  John 
Shaw,  Hugh  Humphrey,*  James  Cumming,  John  Wade. 

Feb.  9,  1818.  —  Isaac  Hempstead  (pres,),  Joseph  T. 
Rice,  Peter  Wendell,  G.  V.  Z.  Bleecker,  John  T.  B.  Gra¬ 
ham,  Peter  Bain. 

*Mr.  Humphrey  was  elected  president  of  the  board  in  1838,  and 
has  held  that  position  until  the  present  year. 


Third  Presbyterian  Church.  241 

Feb.  3,  1819. — John  V.  N.  Yates. 

Feb.  3,  1821. — Robt.  Dunlop  (pres.),  Matth.  Gregory. 
Feb.  3,  1822.— Jonah  Scovil  (pres.  1824-30). 

Feb.  3,  1823. — Erastus  Corning,  Jasper  S.  Keeler. 

Feb.  6,  1826. — Hezekiah  Scovil,  Isaac  McMurdy,  Icha- 
bod  L.  Judson*  (pres.  1855),  David  S.  Gregory,  William 
Gould  (pres.  1831-37),  Sylvanus  B.  Pond,  Elijah  Brain- 
ard. 

1828  — Lemuel  Pierce. 

1829.  —  Joseph  Davis.* 

1830.  — Daniel  Carmichael,  David  Woodworth. 

1831.  — Thomas  Wright. 

1833.  —  James  Hartness,  Elisha  Crane,  James  Robison. 

1834.  —  James  Savage. 

1835.  — William  Muir. 

1836.  — Erastus  Rindge,  David  Deyo,  John  Rodgers. 
1837  — George  Traver. 

1838.  —  John  Stone. 

1839.  — Parker  Sargent,  John  W.  Cluett,  Geo.  Water¬ 
man. 

1841.  — Anthony  Fisk.* 

1842.  — Charles  Frothingham,* 

1845. — William  Tillinghast,*  Francis  M.  Stone. 

1847. — David  P.  Page,  John  Pemberton*. 

1850.  — Thomas  V.  S.  Wheeler,  Benjamin  R.  Spelman. 

1851.  — Allan  T.  Bennett.* 

1855.— George  H.  Thatcher.* 

I.  L.  Judson,  President  of  the  Board;  Anthony  Fisk, 
Treasurer;  Hugh  McCollum,  Clerk. 


*  Now  in  office. 


(242) 


THE  CITY  RECORDS. 

Continued  from  vol.  v,  p.  206. 


At  a  Comon  Councill  held  in  the  Citty  hall  of  Albany 
ye  5  April  1710.— Present,  Jno.  Abeel,  Hendk.  Han¬ 
sen,  Mynd1  Schuyler,  Ab:  Cuyler,  GeP  Roseboom, 
Coenraet  Ten  Eyck,  Reyer  Gerritse,  Bar1  Sanders, 
Hend’k  Roseboom,  Job’s  Sanders. 

Whereas  wynant  van  Dr  Pool  makes  application  to  ye 
Comonalty  to  buy  a  ps.  of  ground  Lying  without  this 
Citty  Containing  ab1  28  foot  Long  &  22  foot  wyde  have- 
ing  on  ye  South  ye  gardin  of  his  father  melgert  vandr 
Pool  for  wh.  it  is  agreed  by  ye  Comonalty  yl  ye  sd  wynant 
van  Dr  Pool  shall  pay  unto  ye  mayor  Record,  aldermen 
and  assistants  of  this  Citty  ye  sum  of  five  pounds  currant 
money,  and  orderd  yl  a  Release  Shall  be  Granted  unto  ye 
sd  wynant  van  Dr  Pool  &  to  his  heirs  &  assigns  for  Ever 
for  ye  sd  ps  of  ground 

This  day  agreed  with  melgert  vander  Poel  Jun., 
wouter  quackenbos  Junr.  gerrit  van  Ness  Junr.  and 
Abraham  vandr  Poel  to  set  up  all  ye  new  Stockados  of 
this  Citty  &  to  Digg  ye  Ditches  in  ye  Space  26  days  or 
ye  first  of  may  next  as  they  shall  Be  Ordered  by  ye  com¬ 
onalty,  and  are  to  have  Every  Stockado  as  they  shall  sett 
up  four  pence  half  penny  to  be  paid  be  every  Inhabitant 
who  has  Ryd  Stockados. 

Daniel  Ketelhuyn  appears  in  the  meeting  who  acqu’ts 
ye  Comonalty  that  he  hath  Sold  his  Right  and  title  wh. 
he  hath  to  land  of  Schaachtekook  bought  of  this  Citty  to 
wouter  quackenbos  Jun’r  &  doth  offer  ye  same  to  ye  Com¬ 
monalty  as  he  is  oblidged  to  doe  by  his  Indenture. 

The  Comonalty  haveing  taken  ye  same  unto  Considera¬ 
tion  and  given  ye  sd  Daniel  Ketelhuyn  Liberty  to  Dispose 
of  ye  sd  Land  to  wouter  quackenbos 


243 


The  City  Records. 

It  is  resolved  by  ye  Commonalty  yl  an  Ordinance  Shall 
be  made  for  ye  Ringing  of  hoggs  and  Cleaning  the  Streets 
of  this  Citty. 

April  13. — It  is  Resolved  by  the  Commonality  that  Mr. 
Hansen  Do  order  that  the  passage  of  the  water  pond  be- 
hynd  Cap1  Wessell  Ten  brooeks  be  Ledd  Through  the 
Stockadoes  by  Peter  Poppy  In  order  that  it  may  further 
Sent  Round  the  block  bous  &  so  down  into  the  River 

It  is  further  Resolved  that  Mr.  Iiend.  Hansen  Do  order 

• 

the  making  and  Repareing  the  bridge  att  the  Tan  pitts. 

April  19. — It  is  Resolved  by  the  Commonality  the 
ald'man  and  Common  Councell  In  Each  ward  Shall  Ex¬ 
amine  all  the  Inhabitants  and  others  Rated  to  Ride 
Stockados  for  the  fortifying  the  Said  Citty  according  to 
Each  his  quota  and  to  make  Returne  thereof  the  Next 
meeting. 

It  is  further  Resolved  that  Mr.  Gerrit  Roseboom  & 
Mr.  Barent  Sanderse  be  manigers  and  order  the  mending 
of  the  Citty  Gates  on  the  North  side  of  the  Citty  above 
the  Burger  Blockhouse  in  good  Repaire 

April  25. — It  is  Resolved  that  such  persons  within 
this  Citty  who  have  delayed  to  Ride  their  quotaes  of 
Stockadoes,  shall  be  forthwith  ordred  to  Ride  ye  same 
before  ye  28th  instant  upon  penalty  of  forfeiting  for  each 
stockadoe  they  shall  longer  delay  ye  sume  of  3  shillings. 

The  following  letter  being  directed  to  ys  body  from  ye 
president  of  her  maj’es  Councill  at  New  York  Viz1 

Aprill  ye  1 1th  17 10 

Gentlemen  —  her  Maje  having  been  pleased  to  revoke 
y°  Commission  formerly  graunted  by  her  to  Coll°  In- 
goldsby  to  be  Lieu1  govern’r  of  ys  province  whereby  the 
governm1  of  ye  same  is  devolved  upon  me  I  have  thought 
fitt  to  acquaint  you 

Whereupon  it  Resolved  that  since  the  time  of  year  is 
so  that  horses  &  waggons  can  not  be  gott  to  Ride  new 
Stockadoes  that  therefore  warning  be  given  to  Each 
Inhabitant  of  this  Citty  that  they  appear  or  send  a  suf¬ 
ficient  man  in  their  stead  with  axes  or  spades  to  Repair 
ye  Citty  Stockadoes  by  Removeing  gone  ones  where  ye  bad 
stand 


244 


The  City  Records. 

May  2. — Mr.  Hansen  brings  in  an  acc1  of  Charges  for 
ye  bridge  at  ye  Tann  pitts  amounting  to  <£3:  12:  9 
ordred  that  Cred1  be  given  to  ye  severall  persons  on  ye 
Citty  book  for  ye  same 

A  proposal  is  made  in  Common  Councill  that  Stone 
wells  may  be  made  in  ye  first  and  Second  wards  each  one 
according  to  act  of  assembly  which  being  putt  to  ye  Vote 
yR  Majority  of  votes  are  that  as  Requested  wells  should 
be  made  in  said  wards  each  one  so  that  in  ye  first  warde 
it  be  made  about  ten  or  twelve  yards  on  ye  East  side 
of  ye  market  house  &  that  in  ye  Second  warde  to  be 
made  just  on  ye  north  side  of  ye  Cros  street  opposite  to 
ye  house  of  gysbert  marselis  to  which  End  Rob1  Living¬ 
ston  Jun’r  Mynd1  Schuyler  Esq’rs  Coonraet  Ten  Eyk  & 
Ryer  gerrittse  assistance  are  appointed  managers  in  ye 
first  warde  and  abraham  Cuyler  grl  Rosebooin  Esq’s 
aldermen  barent  Sanders  hend’k  Roseboom  assistance 
be  managers  in  ye  second  warde  &  yl  ye  same  may  actu¬ 
ally  furnished  warrants  be  Issued  to  ye  assessors  &  ye 
money  Collected  to  Defray  ye  sd  charges  before  ye  limita¬ 
tion  of  ye  sd  act 

July  5. — The  Comon  Councill  have  ordered  the  Dep. 
Clerk  to  draw  and  put  up  at  the  Church  door  the  followr- 
ing  advertisement,  viz1  That  the  Mayor,  Aldermen  and 
Commonalty  of  the  Citty  of  Albany  shall  Expose  to  Sale 
at  a  public  vendue  to  the  highest  bidder,  in  the  Citty  Hall 
of  ye  s  Citty  on  the  14  of  this  instant  July,  being  Satur¬ 
day  at  2  a  Clock  in  the  afternoon,  five  and  twenty  morgan 
or  fifty  acres  of  Land  belonging  to  y"  s'1  Citty,  Lying  on 
yc  East  Syde  of  Hudsons  River,  under  ye  west  Syde  of  ye 
Schaahkooks  hill,  were  the  Buyer  shall  be  willing  to  take 
ye  same,  Provided  it  be  in  one  peece,  together  with  free 
grazeing  for  Catle  &  wood  for  fencing  and  fuel. 

July  11. — The  Commonalty  being  Convened  sent  for 
Evert  Ridder  Citty  Collector  to  come  before  them  wh  he 
did  accordingly  &  was  askt  him  whether  he  had  received 
the  money  for  setting  up  the  Stockados  of  this  Citty 
who  Replyd  he  had  not,  and  he  desird  that  a  sufficient 
warrant  might  be  Issued  to  him  for  ye  Cdllecting  of  ye  sd 
money 


245 


The  City  Ro  cords. 

It  was  therefore  orderd  that  the  D.  Clerke  draw  a 
warrant  directed  to  ye  sd  Evert  Ridder  Collector  of  ye  s'1 
Citty  for  the  due  Collecting  of  sd  money  &  that  the  Com¬ 
monalty  will  assist  those  who  sign  ye  sd  warrant  &  bare 
the  sd  Collector  harmless. 

July  15. — Whereas  the  Commonalty  of  this  Citty  is 
Indebted  unto  the  Patentees  of  Sarachtogue  the  sume  of 
thirty  Eight  pounds  7  shillings  (wh  Runs  on  Intrest)  for 
a  release  from  them  of  Some  Land  now  belonging  to  this 
Citty  Lying  near  Schaachtekook,  and  they  haveing  now 
no  money  in  Cash  to  descharge  that  Debt  have  therefore 
Resolved  to  sell  the  undermentioned  Land  to  discharge 
the  Same,  on  the  following  Condition  (viz1) 

The  Mayor  Aldermen  &  Comonalty  of  the  City  of 
Albany  are  designd  to  Expose  to  Sale  to  the  highest  Bid¬ 
der,  twenty  five  morgan  or  fifty  Acres  of  Land  Belong¬ 
ing  to  the  s  Citty  Situate  Lying  and  Being  on  the  East 
side  of  Hudson’s  river,  under  the  west  Syde  of  Schaah- 
tekooks  hill,  were  the  Buyer  Shall  be  willing  to  take  the 
Land  there,  provided  it  be  in  One  peece,  together  with 
free  grazeing  for  Catle,  &  to  cutt  and  Cary  away  wood 
for  fencing  &  fuel  on  ye  sd  Land  only 

That  the  Person  who  is  the  highest  Bidder  of  ye  sd 
peece  of  Land  Shall  be  Oblidged  to  give  a  Bond  to  the 
Commonalty  wTith  a  sufficient  Security  for  the  money 
payable  fourty  Pounds  thereof  on  or  before  ye  ffifteenth 
day  of  Septemb.  now  next  Ensueing,  and  the  Remainder 
on  or  before  the  fifteenth  of  September  one  thousand 
seven  hundred  &  eleven  and  for  want  of  Such  a  Security 
the  sd  Land  Shall  be  fild  up  again  in  vendue  at  the 
Charges  of  the  Buyer,  and  if  the  Land  Shall  happen  to 
be  sould  for  Less  ye  buyer  Shall  be  oblidged  to  pay  the 
Same,  if  more  he  shall  have  no  profitt  thereof,  a  Con¬ 
veyance  of  the  said  Land  Shall  be  given  on  ye  17th 
Instant  By  the  Mayor  of  the  said  Citty  in  behalf  of  the 
Commonalty,  with  a  reserve  to  give  one  Couple  of  fatt 
hens  to  ye  Commonalty  for  the  time  being  yearly  for 
Ever 

The  buyer  Shall  be  Oblidged  to  pay  him  who  files  the 
said  Land  up  in  vendue 


246 


The  City  Records. 

Symon  Danielse  of  Schinnecht'ady  was  the  highest 
Bidder  for  ye  sd  peece  of  Land  for  the  Sume  of  Sixty 
nine  Pounds 


At  a  Common  Councill  held  in  the  Citty  hall  of  Albany 
the  4th  of  Aug1  1710. — Present,  Robert  Livingston 
Jun’r  Recorder,  Hend.  Hansen,  Mynd1  Schuyler, 
Abr.  Schuyler,  Ger1  Roseboom,  ald’n,  Coenraet  Ten 
Eyk,  Ryer  Gerrittse,  Barent  Sanders,  Tho.  Harmense 
Jolts.  D’wandelaer  Jun’r,  Hend:  Roseboom,  assts. 

It  is  Resolved  that  the  following  persons  be  appointed 
a  Committee  (viz1)  Gerrit  Roseboom  &  Abraham  Cuyler 
Esq’r  Ald’n  Barent  Sanders  &  Ryer  Gerritse  Assistants, 
to  view  the  Cittys  Accounts  and  also  to  view  the  Ac¬ 
counts  due  to  this  Citty  concerning  the  Lycence  money 
for  those  two  years  past  and  to  Bring  in  their  Report  on 
ye  8th  Instant,  in  the  meane  time  it  is  orderd  that  a 
Billet  be  put  on  the  Church  Requiring  all  Persons  who 
have  any  Account  with  this  Citty  to  give  in  the  Same  to 
Mr.  Anthony  Bradt  Citty  Treasurer  on  or  before  the  7  inst. 

It  is  Resolved  by  the  Commonalty  that  two  wells 
Shall  be  made  in  yp  first  &  Second  wards  of  this  Citty, 
Pursuant  to  the  act  of  Gen’ll  Assembly  of  ye  Colony  of 
New  York,  Entituled  an  Act  for  ye  Citty  &  County  of 
Albany  to  pay  ye  arrears  due  to  their  Representatives, 
and  for  other  uses,  was  therefore  orderd  that  warrants 
Shall  be  Issued  to  the  Severall  Assessors  of  yp  first  and 
Second  wards  and  one  warrant  to  yc  Collector  pf  ye 
Citty  for  ye  Levying  fifteen  Pounds  in  each  of  ye  sd  wards 
for  Defraying  yc  Charge  in  making  sd  wells  and  yl  ye  as- 
Asses’rs  bring  in  their  Estimate  on  or  before  ye  8th  inst. 

It  is  further  orderd  that  Rob’  Livingston  Jun’r  Record’r 
mynd1  Schuyler  Esq’rs  Coenraet  Ten  Eyk  &  Ryer  Ger¬ 
ritse  ass’ts  be  appointed  managers  for  building  ye  well 
in  ye  first  ward  or  any  two  of  them,  and  also  Gerrit 
Roseboom  Abraham  Cuyler  Esq’rs  Barent  Sanders  & 
hend  Roseboom  ass’ts  be  appointed  managers  for  build¬ 
ing  ye  well  in  ye  Second  ward  or  any  two  of  them 


247 


The  City  Records. 

Att  a  Comon  Councill  held  in  ye  Citty  hall  of  Albany 
ye  8th  of  Aug’st  1710 

Whereas  it  is  ye  time  now  yl  ye  Comittee  appointed  on 
ye  4th  Instant  Should  deliver  in  their  report,  &  Since 
they  have  not  done  it,  It  is  therefore  orderd  yl  ye  same 
be  referd  till  the  11th  Instant  to  bring  yn  in  an  acc’o  what 
this  Citty  is  Indebted,  and  also  an  account  of  ye  Lycence 
money  for  these  two  years  Last  past 

It  is  Resolved  by  ye  Comonalty  yl  an  adress  Shall  be 
drawn  to  Congratulate  his  Ex’lys  Save  arrivall  to  ys 
part  of  his  Govern1  and  also  to  Represent  ye  present 
State  &  Condition  of  ys  fronteer 

It  is  orderd  yl  a  war1  Shall  be  Issued  to  ye  assessors  of 
ys  Citty  to  make  an  estimate  of  ye  Estates  of  all  ye  In¬ 
habitants  of  ye  said  Citty  and  deliver  ye  same  into  ye 
Clerk's  Office  on  or  before  ye  18th  Instant  und’r  their 
hands  and  Seals. 

Aug.  11. — Pursuant  to  ye  Resolution  of  ye  Comonalty 
on  ye  8th  Instant  Concerning  ye  Comittee  then  appointed 
to  bring  in  an  account  what  this  Citty  is  Indebted,  who 
have  delivered  ye  same  now,  &  find  thereby  that  yp  S 1 
Citty  is  one  hundred  and  nine  pounds  Indebted. 

Aug.  26. — Pursuant  to  ye  Resolution  of  ye  Comonalty 
on  ye  8  Instant  to  ye  ass’rs  of  this  Citty  who  have 
accordingly  Brought  in  an  Estimate  of  ye  said  Citty 
amounting  to  £5834  &  Layd  3d  on  ye  £  comes  to  £72 1 
18  : '6,  have  therefore  orderd  yl  ye  Tax  Lists  shall  be 
drawn  over  &  a  warrant  to  ye  Coll’r  of  ye  sd  Citty  for 
ye  due  Collecting  of  ye  same  on  or  before  ye  20  of  Sept- 
next,  in  order  yl  he  may  then  pay  ye  sd  money  to  anthony 
Bradt  Citty  Treasurer 

It  is  Resolved  yl  a  Comittee  be  appointed  to  form  an 
adress  to  be  given  in  to  ye  Assembly  setting  forth  ye  Con¬ 
dition  of  ye  Citty  and  how  ye  Comonalty  have  Subplyd. 
this  Garrison  with  fire  wood  Since  ye  first  of  May  last, 
ye  Comittee  are  hend’k  Hansen,  mynd*  Schuyler  ab:. 
Cuyler  Esq’rs  &  Coenraet  Ten  Eyk  &  make  a  return 
thereof  on  ye  2  of  Septemb’r  next 

[Annals,  vi.]  22 


248 


The  City  Records. 

Att  a  Mayors  Court  held  in  ye  Citty  hall  of  Albany 
the  19th  of  Sep’r,  1710 

Whereas  melgert  van  der  [Poel]  Late  of  ye  Citty  of 
albany  Gunstockmaker  decd  did  Some  time  before  his 
death  by  deed  of  Gift  and  Conveyance  give  and  Convey 
unto  his  Six  Children  (viz1)  melkert  van  der  poel,  mary 
van  der  poel,  Trinke  van  der  poel,  abraham  van  der 
poel,  wynant  van  der  poel,  &  ariantie  van  der  poel,  a 
negro  man  Called  Lot  &  a  negro  girle  Called  Eva,  his 
saw  mill  on  the  Beavers  Creek,  his  house  in  ye  Citty  of 
Albany  fronting  the  fort  and  a  Lott  of  Ground  on  ye 
South  Syde  of  ye  Citty  as  by  deed  of  Gift  &  Conveyance 
may  appear,  and  whereas  this  day  Application  hath  been 
made  to  us  by  all  ye  Children  aforesd  (ariantie  only 
Excepted  who  was  absent,  tho’  due  notice  given  her) 
that  they  might  have  directions  from  us  (in  her  absence) 
to  have  ye  sd  reall  &  personall  Estate  appraised  &  Sould 
so  that  each  Child  might  Receave  his  or  her  Sixth  Equall 
part  of  ye  moneys  ariseing  from  Such  Sale,  we  haveing 
taken  ye  Same  into  Consideration,  thinking  that  it  would 
be  a  hardship  that  ye  absence  or  neglect  of  ye  sd  arrian- 
tie,  Should  hinder  ye  rest  from  Comeing  to  their  just 
parts  of  ye  sd  Reall  &;  personall  Estate  given  and  Con- 
veyd  as  Aforesd,  and  at  the  same  time  Resolving  & 
intending  as  farr  as  in  us  Lyes  to  Secure  to  ye  sd  arriantie 
her  Equall  Sixth  part  of  the  moneys  arising  by  Such 
Sale,  have  thought  fitt,  that  the  said  Reall  and  Personall 
Estate  be  appraized  by  Stephanus  Groesbeek,  manus 
Wendell,  and  Johannis  vinhagen  of  ye  sd  Citty,  they 
being  first  Sworn  to  make  a  true  apraizement  of  the 
Same  Provided  always  that  the  aforesd  Children  of  ye  sd 
melgert  van  der  poel  do  pay  and  Satisfy  the  Appraizors 
for  their  Trouble  &  pains,  &  that  ye  sd  Appraizement  be 
Return’d  into  ye  next  mayors  Court  under  the  hand  & 
seals  of  ye  s 1  apprayzors  &  yl  ye  sd  appraizors  when  ye 
aforsd  Estate  Shall  be  Sould  Shall  Receive  for  &  on  Be¬ 
half  of  ye  sd  ariaentie  her  Equall  Sixth  part  of  ye  money 
ariseing  from  Such  Sale,  and  pay  ye  Same  to  her  when 
She  shall  at  Any  time  after  give  them  a  Sufficient  dis- 


249 


The  City  Records. 

charge  for  the  Same,  and  we  do  think  fitt  that  the  Said 
Negro’s  house  mill  &  Lott  of  ground  be  Sould  according 
the  sd  appraizement  or  for  as  much  more  as  may  be  But 
not  Less.  Given  under  our  hands  at  Albany  this  fifteenth 
day  of  September  in  ye  ninth  year  of  her  maj’s  Reigne 
annoq°D°  1710 

J  Abeel 

was  Signed  Abraham  Cuyler 
Hend.  Hansen 

Alsoo  wy  undergeschr:  geappenteert  syn  van  de  heere 
magistrate  mayor  &  aldermans  der  Stadt  Albany,  om  te 
Pryseere  het  huys,  1  sagh  moole,  2  thuyn,  neeger  and 
negerin  van  Melgert  Wynantse  van  der  Poel,  geweesene. 
So  Denke  wy  het  voor  sherve  huys  &  Erf  waerdigh  te 
zyn  de  summa  van  -  ..  -  -  -  £130 

De  sagh  moole  d  summe  van  60 

De  Thuyn  d  sume  van  ------  8 

De  neger  d  sume  van  -  -  -  -  65 

De  negerin  d  suma  van  ------  35 


Albany,  Sept.  18,  1710.  £298 

Was  signed 

Stephanis  Groesbeek, 

Harmanus  Wendell, 

JOHANNIS  VlNHAGEN. 

[The  above  is  an  appraisal  of  the  estate  of  Melgert  son 
of  Wynant  Vanderpoel,  consisting  of  a  house  and  lot,  a 
saw  mill,  a  quit  rent  and  a  negro  man  and  woman.] 

Albany  14th  Octobr  1710. 

This  day  being  appointed  by  the  Charter  of  the  Citty 
of  Albany,  for  the  Aldermen,  Assistance,  Constables  & 
Chamberlain  of  the  Citty  to  be  Sworne  who  are  as  fol¬ 
lows  Viz 

First  Ward. 

Aldermen.  Assistants. 

David  Schuyler  Anthony  Van  Schaick 

Harmanus  Wendell  John  Lansen 


250 


The  City  Records. 
Second  Ward. 


Aldermen. 
Abraham  Cuiler 
Garret  Roseboom 


Assistants. 

Hend:  Roseboom 
Barent  Sanders. 


Third  Ward. 


Abraham  Schuyler 
Wessell  Ten  brook 


Derick  Brat 
John  Prym  . 


Constables  that  were  Chosen  viz:  Claas  Van  Woort 
1st  ward,  Derick  Van  Scherline  2d  ward,  Lenerd  Gansi- 
voort  3d  ward 

John  Delemont  Chosen  High  Constable 
Antony  Brat  Chamberlain 


Att  a  common  Council  held  in  the  Citty  hall  of  Albany 
the  24th  of  November  1710 
This  day  Rob1  Livingston  Jun’r  Esq’r  mayor  &  John 
Cuyler  Esq’r  record’r  of  this  Citty  were  Sworn  accord¬ 
ing  to  the  Intent  of  the  Charter  of  this  Citty  and  Thomas 
williams  Esq’r  high  Sherrif  of  this  Citty  &  County  in 
Like  manner 

It  is  resolved  by  the  Comonalty  that  Mr  Anthony 
Bradt  Citty  Treas’r  Shall  Lay  before  them  on  Tuesday 
next  in  ye  Citty  hall  of  Albany  at  teen  a  Clock  in  the 
morning  an  account  what  he  has  rec’d  of  ye  Late  Citty 
Tax  and  also  of  other  Lycence  money  whhe  has  recd 
Ord’rd  that  Evert  Ridder  Collector  of  this  Citty  be 
warned  to  appear  in  the  Citty  hall  of  this  Citty  on  Tues¬ 
day  next  at  teen  a  Clock  in  the  morning  to  give  an 
account  what  he  has  Collected  &  payd  to  the  Citty 
Treas’r  of  the  last  Citty  Tax 

Rob1  Livingston  Jr  Esq’r  mayor  of  this  Citty  Received 
of  John  Abeel  Esq  Late  may’r  of  ye  sfl  Citty  the  Papers 
&  writings  belonging  to  this  Citty  as  ye  sd  Abeel  has 
rec1  ye  Same  of  Evert  Banker  Esq’r 

At  a  Comon  Councill  held  In  the  Citty  hall  of  Albany 
the  28th  of  Novemb’r  1710. — Present  R1  Livingston 
J’r  Esq’r  may’r  J’s  Cuyler  Esq’r  Record’r  David 
Schuyler  Wess:  Ten  Broek  Ger1  Roseboom  Ab: 


25* 


The  City  Records. 

Cuyler  Ab :  Schuyler  Har :  Wendell,  Aldermen;. 
Hend:  Roseboom  Bar1  Sanders  Joh’s  Lansing  Joh’s 
Pruyn  Dirk  Bradt,  Assistants 
Pursuant  to  an  ord’r  of  the  Comon  Councill  of  the 
24th  Instant  Evert  Ridder  Collector  of  this  Citty  Lays 
before  this  Comonalty  an  account  of  what  money  he  has 
Received  from  Severall  Inhabitants  of  this  .Citty  for 
Setting  up  of  Stockados  wh  doth  amount  to  £29:8  wh 
is  Repayd  by  ord’r  of  Comon  Councill  as  folio weth  viz1 

To  wouter  quackenboss  Jr  &  Comp"  for 

Setting  up  of  the  Stockados  -  -  £23:  5:  10 


To  Johs  Otthoudt  &  J3  woodcook 

- 

1:10: 

To  Joseph  Jansen 

m  m 

5 

To  William  Gysbertse 

- 

1 :  1  : 

To  Pr  winne 

£0:  1:6 

Cor:  Maese  - 

2:3 

Mr  Abeel 

5:9 

Win.  Gysbertse  '  - 

3:9 

Winant  van  den  Bergh 

3 

Anthony,  Bradt 

3. 

K:  V:  Renselaer 

4:6 

Luykas  Luykase  - 
To  Evert  Ridder  for  1  Ba11  Beer 

2:  3 

&  his  Salary 

1:  18:3 

£3:  4: 

£29:  8:00 

It  is  Resolved  by  the  Comonalty  that  the  following 
ordinance  Shall  be  publislit  for  the  Prohibiting  the  Sell¬ 
ing  of  Strong  Liquors  by  Retaile  Till  duely  Lycenced  & 
is  as  followeth  viz* 

By  ye  Mayor,  aldermen  and  Comonalty  of  the  Citty  of 
Albany 

An  Ordinance 

Whereas  divers  Persons  of  this  Citty  do  Presume  to  Sell 
drink  by  retaile  without  Lycence  to  the  Great  Damage 
of  the  Comon  Profitt  of  ye  sd  Citty,  we  do  therefore 
hereby  Publish  and  Prohibite  that  no  Person  or  Persons 
Inhabiting  within  the  Citty  and  County  of  Albany  Shall 


252 


The  City  Records. 

directly  or  Indirectly  Sell  to  Either  Christian  or  Indian 
any  Sort  of  Strong  Liquor  without  being  Duly  Lycenced 
under  Pain  and  Penalty  of  forfieting  for  Every  Such 
Offence  the  Sume  of  forty  Shillings  one  half  thereof  for 
the  Behoofe  of  ye  sd  Citty  &  ye  other  half  for  ye  Sherrif 
who  is  to  Sue  for  ye  Same  Given  in  Albany  the  28  of 
nov  in  the  ninth  yenr  of  her  majes  Reign  A0  D°  1710 
It  is  also  Resolved  that  the  following  Persons  be 
appointed  fire  masters  to  Serve  for  the  Ensueing  year 
viz1 

First  Ward.  Second  Ward. 

Johan’s  van  Hoese  Joh’s  Groesbeek 

Casper  van  Hoese  melg1  vandr  Poel 

Third  Ward. 

Jan  Evertse  Adriaen  Othoudt 

Who  are  to  view  ye  Chimneys  &  fire  Places  in  this  Citty 
every  fortnight  dureing  this  winter  and  once  Every  month 
in  the  Summer,  &  where  Ever  they  Shall  find  any  fire 
kept  near  any  Straw  or  hay  or  Stable  they  Shall  Cause 
the  Same  to  be  removed  &  where  any  Chimney  Shall  be 
found  fowl  or  fire  kept  Dangerous  to  fine  the  Owner 
thereof  in  the  Sume  of  Six  Shillings  to  be  recovered  for 
the  use  of  the  sd  fire  masters 

The  following  Persons  are  Appointed  by  the  Comon- 
alty  for  Surveyors  to  Serve  for  the  Ensueing  year  (viz1) 

First  Ward.  Second  Ward. 

Wm  Hogan  Bar1  Ten  Eyk 

Claes  wyngaert  Johs  vinhagen 

Third  Ward. 

Wm  Gysbertse  Tho.  Harmense 

and  that  warrant  be  directed  to  them  to  officiate  their 
respective  Offices 

Orderd  that  Harmanus  wendell  aid  &  Joh’s  Lansing 
ass1  be  appointed  to  view  the  Citty  gates  in  ordr  that 
the  Same  may  be  mended 

It  is  Resolved  by  the  Comonalty  that  whosoever  of  the 
sd  Comonalty  as  neglect  to  give  attendence  in  Comon 
Councill  on  the  hour  appointed  after  notice  given  Shall 


253 


The  City  Records. 

forfeit  for  Each  Such  offence  the  Sume  of  three  Shillings 
for  the  use  of  the  Comonalty,  w’h  Said  forfeiture  in  Case 
of  Refusall  Shall  be  Levyed  as  the  Comonalty  Shall 
think  fitt 

It  is  orderd  that  notice  Shall  be  given  by  an  advertise¬ 
ment  to  be  put  up  at  the  Church  that  All  persons  who 
have  any  account  with  this  Citty  do  bring  ym  to  Mr 
Anthony  Bradt  Citty  Treasurer  on  or  before  the  f2  of 
Decemb’r  next 

Dec.  2. — This  day  agreed  with  Dan’ll  Bradt  to  deliver 
Candles  for  the  Burger  guards  till  the  14th  of  October 
1711  for  nine  pence  a  pound 

Dec.  12. — It  is  Resolved  by  the  Comonalty  that  three 
large  lathers  &  three  Small  ones  with  Iron  hoecks  &  three 
large  poles  Shall  be  made  for  the  use  and  at  the  Charge 
of  this  Citty  and  that  the  old  Lathers  &  Poles  be  brought 
to  Mr  Mayors 

The  Comonalty  being  informed  that  the  night  guards 
in  this  Citty  are  not  mounted  nor  kept,  have  resolved 
that  Joh’s  Cuyler  Esq’r  record’r  Wes:  Ten  Broek  &  Ab: 
Schuyler  Esq’r  ald’n  do  acquaint  Coll°  Pr  Schuyler  there¬ 
with  So  yl  the  Said  Guards  may  be  Settled  and  Kept 
Dec.  18. — Whereas  it  is  omfnitted  to  give  an  Indenture 
to  Symon  Danielse  of  25  morgan  of  Land  Sold  to  him 
in  Publick  vendue  by  the  Comonalty  on  the  15th  of  July 
last  for  ye  sume  of  £69 

It  is  therefore  orderd  that  an  Indenture  Shall  be  drawn 
of  the  sd  peece  of  land  to  ye  sd  Symon  Danielse 

The  Comonalty  have  this  day  Sold  five  morgan  or  10 
acres  of  land  belonging  to  this  Citty  of  Albany  to  Symon 
Danielse  of  Schinnechtady  for  the  Sume  of  twelf  pounds 
to  be  paid  on  or  before  the  15th  day  of  Septemb’r  1712, 
Scituate  Lying  and  being  on  the  East  Syde  of  hudsons 
river  over  ag’st  David  Ketelhuyn’s  &  beginning  at  a 
Creek,  and  so  up  the  River  300  paces  and  then  in  ye 
woods  till  it  takes  in  5  morgan  or  10  acres  of  land 
It  is  Resolved  by  ye  Comonalty  yl  a  warrant  Shall  be 
Issued  to  the  Asses’rs  of  this  Citty  for  ye  assessing  200 
load  of  fire  wood  for  ye  night  guards  of  this  Citty  on  ye 


254 


The  City  Records. 

Inhabitants  of  ye  s'1  Citty,  and  that  they  bring  an  Esti¬ 
mate  thereof  und'r  their  hands  and  seals  in  the  Clerks 
office  on  or  before  the  22  Instant 

Dec.  26. — Pursuant  to  the  resolution  of  the  Comonalty 
on  ys  18th  Instant  the  ass'rs  of  ye  Citty  of  Albany  have 
delivered  the  Estimate  in  the  Clercks  office  of  200  load 
of  firewood  for  ye  burger  guards  wh.  the  Comonalty  have 
Examind  and  disapprove  the  Same,  and  orderd  yl  a  war¬ 
rant  be  Issued  to  the  said  Assessors  for  the  Equally 
assessing  &  Rateing  y°  Inhabitants  of  this  Citty  for  300 
Load  of  wood  for  ye  s'1  Gaurds  &  bring  Such  Estimate 
in  the  Clerks  office  under  their  hands  &  Seals  on  or  be¬ 
fore  fry  day  next 

It  is  Resolved  that  Cap1  Johannis  Bradt  be  warnd  by 
the  Sherrif  to  Infence  his  lott  of  ground  in  this  Citty  on 
the  Corner  opposite  to  Joh’s  D’wandlaers  On  or  before 
the  29th  Instant  on  his  Perrall 

Dec.  29. — This  day  the  mayor  aldermen  &  Comonalty 
of  this  Citty  paid  unto  the  Patentees  of  Sarachtoque 
thirty  Eight  Pounds  thirteen  Shillings  and  £2  :  10  for 
Interest  of  Sd  money  it  being  what  remained  due  to  them 
for  a  Release  of  Some  lands  now  belonging  to  this  Citty 
According  to  the  order  of  the  Comonalty  on  the  26 
Instant  the  Ass’rs  of  this  Citty  have  delivered  their 
Estimates  in  the  Clerks  Office  of  300  Load  of  fire  wood, 
wh.  they  do  Approve  of  and  the  sd  Estimates  to  be  drawne 
over  by  the  Clerk 

Resolved  by  the  Comonalty  yl  ye  Inhabitants  of  the  3d 
ward  Ride  their  proportion  of  wood  between  this  and  the 
13tli  of  January  next  and  the  first  ward  from  yl  time  to 
the  27th  do.  and  ye  2d  ward  from  ye  27  January  to  the 
11  feb.  next  Ensueing 

Dec.  30. — Whereas  we  are  credibly  Informd  yl  ye  sol¬ 
diers  of  this  garrison  Lodged  in  ye  blockhouses  have  not 
only  Cut  downe  the  Stockados  &  battaries  of  this  Citty 
but  also  distroyd  Severall  fences  without  the  same,  and 
understanding  yl  his  Ex’ly  has  directed  ye  Command:  to 
furnish  fire  wood,  have  thought  fitt  to  Enquire  thereinto 
&  accordingly  Sent  for  Cap1  weemes  who  informs  us 


255 


The  City  Records. 

that  he  has  taken  the  necessary  Care  for  fire  wood  & 
agreed  wth  Severall  persons  to  furnish  ye  Same  (viz1) 
with  francis  winne  for  300  load  wood,  Cornelis  Scher- 
merhoorn  for  100  do  for  ye  fort  and  with  Coll0  P.  Schuyler 
and’rs  Janse  &  Jacob  pearsen  for  to  furnish  the  block¬ 
houses,  but  upon  further  Inquire  therein  Mr.  Winne 
affirms  that  he  is  not  actually  agreed,  it  is  therefore  Re¬ 
solved  that  the  following  letter  be  Sent  to  his  Ex’ly  viz1 

May  it  please  your  Excellency 

we  ye  Comonalty  of  ye  Citty  of  albany  lay  hold  on  ys. 
uppertunity  to  Salute  yr.  Ex’ly  &  wh.  all  do  presume  to 
make  known  yl  notwithstanding  yr.  Ex’lys  care  (as  we 
understand)  in  directing  ye  Comand’r  of  her  naj’es 
garrison  here  to  provide  fire  wood  for  ye  fort  and  block¬ 
houses  where  her  maj’es  Sold’s  are  lodged  in  they  in 
want  thereof  do  Cut  downe  ye  Stockados  &  batteries  of 
ys  Citty  destroy  peoples  fences  without  ye  same  &  likewise 
take  firewood  where  it  can  be  found,  wh  doth  not  only  lay 
open  the  fortifications  of  this  Citty  &  render  it  defence¬ 
less,  but  tends  to  the  great  grievance  of  the  Inhabitants 
therein,  do  therefore  hope  that  by  yr.  Ex’lys  further 
directions  to  him  Care  may  be  taken  to  Prevent  ye  like 
grievances  &  any  Complaints  for  the  future  &  do  take 
leave  to  subscribe  our  self  Yr  Excellencys 

most  humbl  Serv’ts 


In  Mayor’s  Court,  Jan.  23,  1811. 
Henry  Holland  by  his  attorney  John  Collins  Plentive 
Nanning  Harmense  visher  Defend1 
Mr.  Collins  attorney  for  the  Plentive  moves  to  the 
Court  that  the  said  Nanning  Harmense  visher  defend1 
Shall  be  nunsuited  being  he  has  not  Enterd  his  Plea  in 
the  Clerks  Office 

The  Court  have  taken  the  Same  into  Consideration  do 
nonsuite  him  accordingly,  &  that  he  pays  Cost  of  Suite 
The  Court  adjourned  till  this  day  forthright 

In  Common  Council,  Feb.  5,  17 M. 

It  is  orderd  by  the  Comonalty  [that]  billets  for  fire 


256 


The  City  Records. 

wood  of  the  first  &  Second  wards  of  this  Citty  Shall  [be] 
drawn  &  given  to  the  Constables  to  the  End  that  the 
Inhabitants  of  S:  wards  and  those  of  ye  Sd  ward  who 
have  not  Ryde  their  quota  of  wood  for  the  night  guards 
of  the  sd  Citty,  that  they  Ryde  their  Severall  quotas  as 
aforesaid  on  or  before  the  12th  of  this  Instant,  on  pain 
&  penalty  to  forfeit  three  Shillings  for  Every  Load  of 
wood  that  Shal  not  be  Ryd  &  brought  to  ye  sd  guard,  for 
behoofe  of  ye  sd  Comonalty  who  are  to  Sue  for  the  Same 
and  that  the  Cryer  give  notice  hereof  and  that  every  one 
most  Enter  of  what  they  Ryde  to  Mr.  Barent  Sanders  to 
whom  a  List  of  all  what  Shall  be  ryde  is  to  be  given 

March  16. — Jacob  Lansing  of  ye  Citty  of  Albany  de¬ 
livers  in  a  Petition  to  this  meeting  wh.  is  as  followeth  viz1 

To  the  worshipfull  mayor  Recorder  aldermen  &  Comon¬ 
alty  of  the  Citty  of  Albany 

The  humble  Petition  of  Jacob  Lansing  of  the  Citty  of 
Albany  Humbly  Sheweth 

Whereas  your  Petitioner  has  a  Lott  of  ground  on  ye 
north  side  of  this  Citty  of  Albany  and  is  willing  to  make 
a  considerable  arrectment  thereon,  and  ye  sd  Lott  not 
haveing  it  breath  in  ye  front  according  to  ye  reare  to 
build  in  a  regular  way,  your  petitioner  desires  your 
worships  be  pleased  to  sell  three  four  or  five  feet  adjoin¬ 
ing  to  ye  north  side  of  sd  Lott  in  the  front  with  a  taper 
Line  from  y’  front  to  the  just  Extent  bounds  in  ye  reare 
&  your  Petitioner  is  willing  to  pay  a  reasonable  Sume 
for  the  Same  and  your  Petitioner  as  in  duty  bound  Shall 
Ever  pray  Jacob  Lansing 

The  Comonalty  have  taken  ye  sd  Petition  unto  Con¬ 
sideration  and  do  refer  the  same  till  the  next  meeting  & 
yl  in  ye  mean  time  the  Sd  ground  Petitioned  for  be 
mesurd 

It  is  Resolved  by  the  Comonalty  that  Six  or  Seven 
Carters  be  Lycenced  for  this  Citty  of  Albany,  that  they 
and  no  other  Shall  ryde  unless  so  Lycenced  &  that  they 
Enter  into  a  bond  for  the  due  execution  of  that  office, 

It  is  further  Resolved  that  they  are  to  have  for  Ryde- 


257 


The  City  Records. 

ing  a  freight  of  dry  goods,  wheat  bread  flower  wood 
Stone,  &c  three  pence,  .for  a  pipe  of  wrine  a  hhd  rum 
Malasses  &  Tobacco  nine  pence  and  for  a  tierce  of  rum 
&c  fourpence  half  penny  and  for  a  Bale  of  Strowds  Duf¬ 
fels  Blankets  and  of  Dry  Goods  Sixpence 

•  f  In  Mayor's  Court,  March  20,  1711. 

Whereas  William  Gysbertse  &  Samuel  Doxsie  themselfs 
&  Joseph  Jansen  appear  to  the  Court  &  desire  the  favour 
of  them  to  be  appointed  Carters  for  this  Citty  of  Albany 
&  also  Porters  joyntly  with  William  Hollie  wh.  was 
graunted  to  them  by  the  Court  Provided  that  they  be 
duly  Lycenced  &  give  bond  wflth  Sufficient  Security  for 
ye  performance  of  their  respective  offices,  and  pay  what¬ 
soever  be  Damnifyd  or  lost  by  their  neglect 

It  is  Resolved  that  the  Porters  of  this  Citty  Shall 
take  demand  and  Receive  the  following  fees  for  their 
service,  and  no  more  (viz1)  for  a  hoxhead  of  rum  and 
wine  Eighteen  pence  for  a  tierce  of  ye  Same  twelf  pence 
a  barrel  nine  pence,  a  hhd  of  Tobacco  nine  pence  a  hox¬ 
head  of  molasses  Eighteen  pence  a  bale  of  Duffels 
blanket  Strouds  Sixpence  and  for  a  barrel  of  Syder 
three  pence  three  farthings  and  all  other  goods  &  liqours 
Equevalent 


In  Common  Council,  March  31,  1711. 

Waghalrawat  Sacham  of  Scahtekook  Indians  for  him¬ 
self  and  In  behalf  of  the  other  Indians  appeard  In 
Comon  Councel  Dcsireing  our  assistance  to  plowe  Some 
Land  for  them  there  at  Scahtekook  to  plant  Corne  the 
Comonality  takeing  his  Request  Into  Consideration 
Doe  Resolve  that  Some  farmer  be  hyred  as  soon  as  pos¬ 
sible  and  that  there  be  plowed  five  Days  with  one  plow 
for  the  benefitt  of  Said  Indians  at  Scahtekook  and  that 
the  plower  be  satisfyed  and  paid  by  the  said  Citty  three 
pounds 


In  Mayors’s  Court,  April  3,  1811. 

It  is  orderd  that  the  following  ordinance  be  publisht 


258 


The  City  Records. 

By  the  mayor  Recorder  &  Comonalty  of  the  Citty  of 
Albany,  An  Ordinance 

Whereas  Severall  prsons  in  this  Citty  do  prsume  to 
retaile  and  use  manuall  occupations  without  they  being 
made  freemen  of  ye  s  Citty,  It  is  therefore  hereby  Pub¬ 
lish'd  &  declard  yl  no  prson  or  prsons  Shall  hereafter 
Expose  to  Sale  By  retaile  any  wares  or  merchandize  by 
themselfs  or  any  other  prson  or  prsons  whatsoever  or 
use  any  trade  mystery  or  manuall  Occupation  in  ye  Sd 
Citty  &  Liberties  thereof,  unless  he  or  they  Shall  have 
his  or  their  freedom  and  by  actual  Dwellers  &  Inhabit¬ 
ants  of  ye  Citty  aforesd  on  Such  pains  and  penalty  as  the 
Charter  of  ye  Sd  Citty  directs  for  the  behoof  of  ye  Sher- 
rif  or  any  other  p’son  that  Shall  Sue  for  ys  Same.  Given 
in  Albany  ye  3d  of  Ap’ll  in  ye  10th  year  of  her  maj’ts 
Reign  Annoq0  D°  1711 

Then  the  Court  adjourned  till  this  day  14  night 


In  Common  Council,  April  3,  1711. 

By  virtue  of  an  act  of  Gen’l  Assembly  of  the  Colony 
of  New  York  Entituled  an  act  for  Repairing  of  the  block 
houses,  plat  forms,  and  other  ye  fortifications  of  the  Citty 
of  Albany  and  town  of  Schaennechtady  in  the  said 
County  It  is  orderd  that  warrants  Shall  be  Issued  to 
the  Assessors  of  the  first  &  Second  ward  of  this  Citty 
for  the  Equally  Assessing  of  all  &  Every  the  Inhabit¬ 
ants  of  ye  sd  Citty  and  Deliver  Such  ^Estimate  under 
their  hands  &  Seals  in  ye  Clerks  office  on  or  before  yQ 
fifth  Instant 

April  7. — It  is  resolved  by  the  Comonalty  that  two 
wooden  wells  Shall  be  made  in  the  first  &  Second  wards 
of  this  Citty,  and  that  there  Shall  be  raisd  for  Defraying 
the  Charge  of  the  Sd  wells  in  Each  ward  twenty  pounds 
to  be  paid  by  the  Inhabitants  of  ye  sd  wards  in  Proportion 
as  Every  one  Lives  near  to  the  Said  wells,  and  that  the 
wells  in  the  first  ward  Shall  Stan$  Sixty  yards  from  the 
house  of  Evert  wendell  down  the  Street  on  the  South 
side  of  the  gutter,  and  the  well  to  be  made  in  the  Second 
ward  Shall  Stand  about  the  middle  of  the  Street  over 


259 


The  City  Records. 

against  the  house  of  Gysbert  marselis  &  william  Jacobse 
It  is  further  Resolved  that  a  warrant  Shall  be  directed 
to  the  Assessors  of  ye  sr|  first  &  Second  wards  to  make 
Such  an  Assessment  in  Proportion  as  Aforesd  and  De¬ 
liver  the  Same  under  their  hands  &  Seals  into  the  Clerks 
office  on  or  before  [no  date  is  specified]  David  Schuyler 
&  harmanus  wendell  Esq'rs  being  appointed  managers 
with  Joh’s  Lansing  &  Anthony  van  Schaick,  to  procure 
workmen  &  materialls  for  makeing  ye  well  in  ye  first  ward 
April  10. — Whereas  Daniel  Killie  has  taken  in  part 
of  ye  land  behind  his  house  being  the  queen  high  way, 
It  is  therefore  Resolved  by  the  Comonalty  that  he  Shall 
forthwith  take  up  his  fence,  and  Sett  up  the  same  Behind 
his  house  no  further  then  with  a  streight  line  from  ye 
Corner  of  the  pasture  belonging  to  ye  heirs  of  mag1 
Schuyler,  dec'1  &  leaving  ye  same  breath  behind  his  Lott 
as  ye  same  is  at  the  afores 1  Corner 

It  is  further  Resolved  by  the  Comonalty  yl  ye  fence  of 
ye  Pasture  of  Coll.  John  Schuyler  Shall  be  taken  up  in 
Like  manor  and  yt  ye  following  persons  be  appointed  a 
Comitte  viz  David  Schuyler,  ab:  Cuyler  w:  Ten  Broek 
Esq’s  ald’n  ant:  v:  Schaick  Barent  Sanders  &  D.  Bradt 
to  view  &  Examine  ye  writeings  Concerning  ye  Same  & 
yl  they  bring  in  their  Report  in  writeing  to  ys.  meeting 
on  or  before  ye  5th  of  June  next  Ensueing 


In  Mayor’s  Court,  May  15,  1711. 

Orderd  that  henceforth  the  Sherrif  or  his  deputy  and  a 
Constable  in  his  Turn  Shall  attend  the  mayor’s  Court 
precisely  when  held 

May  19. — This  day  this  meeting  rec'1  a  Letter  from  his 
Excellency  Rob1  Hunter  Esq’r  Cap1  Gen’l  &  Gov’r  in 
Chief  of  the  province  of  new  york  &  dated  in  new  york 
ye  12th  of  this  Instant  wherein  he  directs  yl  her  maj’es 
Service  Requires  That  a  detachm1  from  ys.  garrison  here 
of  3  Score  men  be  Sent  Immediately  to  ye  manor  Living¬ 
ston  and  desires  us  to  be  pleased  to  give  ord’rs  yl  they 
be  accomodated  with  boats  &  Canaes  necessary,  or  what 

[ Annals ,  vi.]  23 


260 


The  City  Records, 

Else  may  be  requisite,  as  also  we  will  be  pleased  to 
ord’r  Such  necessary  guards  for  ye  Security  of  the  place 
dureing  their  absence  as  wee  may  Judge  Requisite  our 
Ready  Complyance  as  it  is  for  her  maj’es  Immediate 
Service  will  very  much  oblidge  him 

In  Obedience  whereof  the  following  warrant  was 
order  to  be  directed  to  Sheboleth  Bogardus  viz1 

Whereas  we  have  just  now  recd  a  Letter  from  his  Ex’cy 
Rol  hunter  Esq’r  Cap*  Gen’l  &  Gov’r  in  Chiefe  of  ye  pro¬ 
vince  of  new  york  &c.  wherein  he  setts  forth  y*  her  maj’es 
Service  requires  yl  Sixty  men  Immediately  Shall  be  Trans¬ 
ported  to  ye  manor  of  Livingston,  we  do  therefore  require 
&  Comand  you  in  her  maj’es  name  to  take  on  board  ye  Scl 
number  with  Such  proper  officers  as  his  Ex’cy  has  di¬ 
rected,  and  hereof  you  are  in  no  ways  to  omitt  at  your 
parrall  Given  under  our  hands  in  Albany  ye  19th  of  May 
in  ye  tenth  year  of  her  maj’s  Reigne  annoq’o  Do.  1711 
Was  signed  by  the  mayor  record,  &  aldermen 
To  Shiboleth  Bogardus  master  of  his  Sloop 


At  a  meeting  of  the  mayor  &  aldermen  in  the  Citty  of 
Albany  ye  21st  of  May  1711 
Just  now  the  mayor  &  ald’n  reed  a  Letter  from  his 
Ex’cy  RoV  Hunter  Esq’r  Cap1:  Gen’l  &  governour  in 
Chiefe  of  ye  Province  of  newyork  &c  and  is  as  followeth 
viz1 

Manor  of  Livingston  ye  20th  may  1711 

Eleven  at  night 

Sr. — her  maj’s  Service  Requireing  ye  presence  of  ye 
Troops  at  Albany  here,  with  all  possible  dispatch,  I 
must  Intreet  yo.  to  furnish  them  with  Sloops  boats  or 
Canoes  for  their  Conveyance  the  Expense  of  which  Shall 
be  defrayd  and  at  the  Same  time  I  desire  yo.  may  call 
the  militia  in  your  town  in  arms  to  take  Care  of  the  fort 
&  place  dureing  the  Absence  of  the  garrison  I  Earnestl}* 
begg  your  assistance  for  dispatch  &  am  with  Sincerity 

Your  very  humble  Servant 

Rol  Hunter 


261 


The  City  Records. 

In  obedience  whereof  we  forthwith  directed  the  fol¬ 
lowing  warrant  to  naxming  Harm’se  visher  viz1 

Whereas  we  just  now  Received  a  Letter  from  his  Ex’cy 
Rob’  Hunter  Esq’r  Cap1  Gen’l  and  Govern’r  in  Chiefe  of 
the  province  of  n :  york  wherein  he  setts  forth  that  her 
maj’es  Service  Requires  that  her  maj’es  Troops  at  Albany 
be  Sent  forthwith  to  the  manor  Livingston  &  directs  us 
to  furnish  them  with  Sloops  &c.  for  their  Conveyance  & 
also  that  the  Expense  thereof  Shall  be  defrayd  in  Obedi¬ 
ence  whereof  we  do  hereby  Require  yo.  forthwith  to 
receive  on  board  your  Sloop  her  maj’s  Sd  Troops  &  Con¬ 
vey  them  to  the  Sd  manor  of  Livingston  in  all  Expedi¬ 
tion,  hereof  you  are  in  no  ways  to  omitt  at  your  parrall, 
Given  under  our  hands  in  Albany  the  21st  of  may  in  the 
tenth  year  of  her  maj’s  Reigne  Annoq’o  Do.  1711 

was  Signed  by  the  mayor  Recorder  &  aldermen 
To  Nanning  harmense  visher 
master  of  the  Sloop  Mary 

And  whereas  Pursuant  to  the  Said  Letter  we  have 
taken  the  necessary  Care  for  the  Transportation  of  ye 
said  Troops,  it  is  further  Resolved  yl  Cap1  Abraham 
Schuyler  &  harmanus  wendell  Esq’rs  forthwith  do  attend 
Peter  Schuyler  Esq’r  Collo.  of  the  militia  Regim1  of  this 
Citty  &  County  &  acquaint  him  that  this  meeting  desire 
he  will  Emmediately  order  that  ye  militia  of  the  Sd  Citty 
come  in  arms  to  take  care  of  y 1  sd  fort  &  this  place  dure- 
ing  the  absence  of  the  said  troops 

The  Said  Abraham  Schuyler  &  harmanus  Wendell 
Esq’rs  being  returnd,  Says  that  they  have  deliverd  a 
Copy  of  the  above  Resolution  to  Colo.  Peter  Schuyler 
who  answerd  yl  he  would  Send  for  ye  militia  Officers  to 
Convien  to  whom  he  would  Communicate  ye  same  & 
Should  Comply  with  our  desire 

orderd  that  the  following  Letter  be  written  to  his 
Ex’cy  Rob1  Hunter  Cap1  Gen’l  &  gov’r  in  Chiefe  of  the 
province  of  new  york  &  in  answer  to  his  Letter  of  yc  20 
Instant,  and  is  as  follows  viz1 


262 


The  City  Records. 

Albany  ye  21st  of  may  1711 

may  it  please  your  Ex’cy 

your  Ex’cys  Letter  dated  yesterday  we  recd  ys.  day  & 
in  Obedience  thereof,  we  have  forthwith  procured  a 
Sloop  for  ye  Transportation  of  ye  Troops  here  &  desired 
Peter  Schuyler  Esq’r  Collo  of  the  militia  Regiment  of 
ys.  Citty  &  County  that  he  will  Emmediately  order  ye 
militia  of  this  Citty  to  Come  in  Arms  to  take  care  of  ye 
fort  and  this  place  dureing  ye  absence  of  ye  sd  Troops 
wdio  returnd  answer  that  he  would  Comply  therewith. 
So  remain  in  all  sincerity 

may  it  please  your  Ex’cy 
your  Ex’cys  most  obed1  &  humble  Servants 
was  Signed  by  the  may’r  Recorder  &  aldermen 


-  In  Common  Council,  May  29,  1711. 

Orderd  that  the  following  ordinance  Relateing  [to]  ye 
Indian  Trade  Shall  be  Issued  (viz1) 

By  the  mayor  Recorder  aldermen  and  Comonalty  of 
the  Citty  of  albany 

An  Ordinance 

Whereas  several  Inhabitants  of  this  Citty  have  made 
their  Complaints  yl  Sundry  persons  of  this  Citty  & 
Schinnechtady  do  much  Incroach  upon  ye  Indian  Trade 
in  takeing  and  giveing  great  giffts  for  Rydeing  of  the 
Indians  &c.  It  is  therefore  Resolved  that  it  Shall  be 
publishd  &  Declard  yc  no  p’son  or  p’sons  wl  Soever 
within  ys.  Citty  Shall  upon  ye  arrivall  of  any  Indian  or 
Indians,  Squae.  or  Squaes  (comeing  from  ye  westward) 
adress  themselfs  nor  Speake  to  ym.  nor  Intice  ym.  with¬ 
out  ye  Gates  of  ye  Sd  Citty  by  Signs  or  oy’r  wise  how 
Soever  to  trade  with  themselfs  or  any  other  prsons  being 
thereof  Convicted  by  ye  Sherrif  or  any  oy’r  pson  or 
psons  Shall  forfeit  &  pay  as  a  fine  for  Each  Such  Offence 
ye  Sume  of  five  pounds  Currant  money  for  ye  behoof  of 
the  Sherriff  or  any  other  pson  who  Shall  Sue  for  ye  Same 
at  ye  mayors  Court  or  in  any  other  Court  of  record  with¬ 
in  the  sd  Citty, 


The  City  Records .  263 

That  no  person  or  psons  whatsoever  within  this  Citty 
Shall  Send  out  or  make  use  of  any  Broakers  whether 
Christians  or  Indians  in  the  management  of  ye  Indian 
Trade  to  ye  westward  upon  pain  &  penalty  of  paying  as 
a  fine  for  Each  Offence  ye  Sume  of  five  Pounds  for  ye 
behoof  and  to  be  recd  as  aforesd 

That  no  person  or  psons  Shall  with  his  or  their  wagon 
or  wagons,  Cart  or  Carts  horse  or  horses  drive  or  Ride 
any  Indian  or  Indians  Squae  or  Squaes,  nearer  to  the 
Citty  of  Albany  from  Schinnechtady  yn.  at  ye  Sand  Bergh 
upon  pain  &  penalty  of  paying  as  a  fine  for  each  Such 
Offence  ye  Sume  of  five  pound  for  y°  behoof  of  &'  to  be 
recd  as  aforesd 

That  in  Case  any  person  or  psons  haveing  Committed 
any  offence  as  before  mentioned  &  ye  Sherrif  his  deputy 
or  any  other  person  or  persons  Shall  on  his  or  their  own 
accord  Contract  agree  or  make  up  the  matter  with  Such 
Offender  or  with  any  body  Else  by  there  means  for  a  less- 
Sume  of  money  then  ye  fine  or  fines  aforesd  made  for 
such  Offences  he  or  they  being  thereof  Convicted  by  one 
or  more  Evidences  Shall  forfeit  as  a  fine  for  Each  offence 
the  Sume  of  five  Pounds  for  ye  behoof  of  the  Said  mayor 
Record’r  aldermen  &  Comonalty  &  to  be  Sued  as  aforesd 
Given  in  Alb.  yG  BO  of  may  ye  10th  year  of  her  maj’s 
Reign  1711 


By  the  mayor  aldermen  &  Comonalty  of  the  Citty  of 
Albany  &  ye  Justices  of  the  sd  Citty  &  County 

An  Ordinance 

By  virtue  of  his  Ex’cys  order  dated  ye  17th  Instant  it 
is  thought  Requisite  ffor  her  maj’es  Service  that  all  ye 
Bakers  of  this  Citty  do  Bake  forthwith  all  the  Cornell  & 
other  Stuf  they  have  by  them  or  Can  get  to  bread  &  that 
no  person  or  person’s  Shall  directly  or  Indirectly  take  on 
board  of  any  Sloop  or  Canoe  any  Cornell  or  bread  to 
Transport  the  Same  from  hence  to  any  place  out  of  this 
County  we  doe  therefore  hereby  Require  all  bakers  to 
take  notice  hereof  accordingly  &  prohibite  all  masters  of 


264 


The  City  Records. 

vessels  or  any  other  person  or  persons  whatsoever  to 
take  on  board  of  any  Sloop  boat  Canoe  or  other  vessel 
or  any  other  way  to  Convey  or  Transport  any  bread  or 
Cornel  from  this  Citty  &  County 

It  is  further  prohibited  by  ye  authority  aforesd  that  all 
masters  of  vessels  or  any  other  person  or  persons  what¬ 
soever  to  take  on  board  of  any  Sloop  or  boat  any  Inch 
whyte  pine  boards  To  Convey  or  Transport  the  Same  as 
aforesd  upon  penalty  as  they  will  answer  to  the  Contrary 
at  their  perrill  Given  In  Albany  the  21st  June  in  the 
tenth  year  of  her  maj’s  Reign  annoq’o  Do.  1711 


At  a  mayor’s  Court  held  in  the  Citty  hall  of  Albany 
the  24th  of  June  1711 

The  Court  opened  &  ordre’d  That  all  Constables  of 
this  Citty  Shall  attend  the  Mayors  Court  when  held  in 
the  respective  turns  beginning  with  ye  Constable  of  the 
first  ward  on  pain  &  penalty  of  Six  Shillings  for  ye  be¬ 
hoofs  of  the  Sherrif  who  is  to  Sue  for  ye  Same 


Att  a  Comon  Gouncill  held  in  the  Citty  hall  of  Albany 
the  24th  June  1711:  Present,  Rob1  Livingston, 
Jun’r  Esq’r  may’r  John  Cuyler  Esq’r  record’r  David 
Schuyler  Wessel  Ten  Broek  ger1  Roseboom  harm  : 
Wendell  abrah’m  Schuyler  abraham  Cuyler  Esq’s 
ald’n  Dirk  Bradt  Joh’s  Pruyn  Hend’k  Roseboom 
Johan’s  Lansing  anth’o  Van  Schaak  ass’ts 
By  virtue  of  an  act  of  gen’l  assembly  of  y°  Colony  of 
new  york  Entitled  an  act  .... 

Is  orderd  that  the  Sume  of  fifty  pounds  Shall  be  Raisd  & 
Levyd  on  all  the  Inhabitants  of  this  Citty  and  have 
therefore  orderd  yl  a  War’t  Shall  be  Issued  to  ye  asses’rs 
of  this  Citty  to  make  an  Estimate  of  ye  Estates  of  ye 
Inhabitants  of  ye  sd  Citty  &  deliver  ye  Same  into  ye 
Clerks  office  on  or  before  ye  *  *  July  next,  under  their 
'  hands  &  Seals 

It  is  ordr’d  yl  an  ordinance  made  on  ye  19  June  1708 
Relateing  butchers  in  this  Citty  Shall  be  confirm’d  and 


265 


The  City  Records. 

take  its  full  force  an  that  an  ordinance  to  that  purpose 
be  published  on  Such  fine  and  penalty  as  Sd  former  ordi¬ 
nance  doth  direct  and  is  as  followeth  viz1 

Whereas  a  certain  ordinance  by  ye  may’r  ald’n  &  Com- 
onalty  of  ye  Citty  of  Albany  on  ye  19  day  of  June  1708 
Relateing  ye  publick  market  place  &  Exposeing  to  Sale 
all  fish  flesh  poultry  Eggs  butter  Cheese  Roets  &c.  at  ye 
place  aforesd  &  no  other  with'n  y9  sd  Citty  (is  Expird)  it 
is  therefore  ordained  by  ye  authority  aforesd  yl  ye  Same 
Shall  be  Confirmd  &  put  in  its  full  force  &  vertue  w’h  is 
hereby  done  accordingly  and  ye  person  or  persons  offend¬ 
ing  Shall  be  Lyable  to  pay  Such  fines  and  penaltys  as  in 
the  afores !  ordinance  is  Sett  forth  &  Expressd 

September  12,  1711.  —  Whereas  the  assessors  of  ye 
Citty  of  Albany  have  neglected  to  make  an  assesment  of 
ye  Estates  of  the  Inhabitants  of  ye  sd  Citty  pursuant  to 
an  ord’r  of  Comon  Coun’ll  dated  ye  26th  of  July  Last 
on  a  warr1  to  them  directed 

It  is  therefore  Resolved  that  a  warrant  Shall  be  di¬ 
rected  to  the  assessors  of  ye  sd  Citty  Pursuant  to  an  act 
of  Gen’ll  assembly  Entituled  an  act  for  Repealing  an  act 
of  Gen’l  Assembly  of  this  province,  Entituled,  an  act  for 
defraying"ye  publick  &  Necessary  Charge  throughout  this 
province,  for  maintaining  ye  poor  &  preventing  vagabonds 
Except  so  much  thereof  as  Relates  to  vagabonds  and  for 
appointing  more  EfFectuall  means  for  defraying  ye  publick 
&  necessary  Charges  in  Each  Citty  and  County  and  for 
maintaining  the  poor,  and  deliver  Such  Assesment  under 
their  hands  &  Seals  on  or  before  ye  16th  of  this  Instant 
in  the  Clarks  office 

Aug.  22. — It  is  Resolved  by  the  Comonalty  that  ye 
following  persons  be  appointed  a  Comittee  (viz1)  the 
ald’n  &  ye  assis’ts  now  Present  to  view  and  Examine  ye 
accounts  of  this  Citty  and  bring  in  their  Report  on  or 
before  ye  28th  Instant  and  that  ye  Creger  gives  Notice  to 
the  Inhabitants  of  the  sd  Citty  to  Bring  in  Such  accounts 
as  they  have  with  this  Citty  to  Mr.  Antho.  Bradt  Citty 
Treasurer 

Sept.  19. — The  Assessors  of  the  Citty  of  Albany  have 


266 


The  City  Records . 

this  day  brought  in  their  Estimates  amounting  to  5818£ 
on  w’h  is  Layd  2Jd  on  the  pound  and  ordrd  the  D  Clark 
to  Copy  the  S1  Estimates  &  Draw  a  warrant  directed  to 
the  Collector  of  yp  S 1  Citty  to  Collect  &  pay  the  Money 
unto  ye  Citty  Treas’r  on  or  before  the  14th  October  now 
next  Ensueing 

Sept.  29. — This  day  being  appointed  by  ye  Charter  of 
this  Citty  that  the  Aldermen  of  ye  Several  wrards  of  this 
Citty  bring  their  return  of  ye  aldermen  assis’ts  &  Con¬ 
stables  Chosen  by  the  Inhabitants  to  serve  for  the  Ensue¬ 
ing  year  (viz1) 

First  Ward. 

Aldermen.  Assistants. 

David  Schuyler,  Job’s  Lansing, 

Harmanus  Wendel.  Barent  Staats. 

Joh’s  Jer.  Wendell,  Const. 

Second  Ward. 

GeP  Roseboom  Gysbert  Marceles 

Abraham  Cuyler  William  Jacobse 

Hend'k  Roseboom  Jun’r,  Const. 

Third  Ward. 

Wessel  Ten  Broek  Peter  Waldron 

hend’k  hansen  Dirk  Bradt 

Dirk  T.  Bradt,  Const. 

Claes  van  woerden  Chosen  high  Constaple 

Anthony  Bradt  Chosen  Chamberlaine 


At  a  meeting  of  ye  Recorder  ald’n  &  assistants  of  ye 
Citty  of  albany  this  27  Nov:  1811:  Present,  Jno. 
Cuyler  Esq’r  Record’r  Wess  Ten  Broek  hend.  han¬ 
sen  David  Schuyler  Ab:  Cuyler  Ger1  Roseboom  bar: 
wendel  Dirk  Brat  Joh*s  Lansing  B:  Stats  Gys:  mar- 
celis  wm.  Jacobse  P’r  Waldrum 
Resolved  that  the  150  men  Raised  by  the  Gen’l  assem¬ 
bly  of  the  Colony  of  N:  york  for  the  Security  of  these 
fronteers  this  winter  shall  be  Quarterd  out  in  this  Citty 
&  County  on  the  Inhabitants  thereof 

It  is  thought  Necessary  that  300  load  of  fire  wood  be 


267 


The  City  Records. 

Ryd  for  the  hurger  Guards  of  the  Citty  and  is  there¬ 
fore  orderd  that  a  warrant  Shall  be  directed  to  the 
Asse’rs  of  ye  sd  Citty  to  assess  ye  aforesd  quantity  of 
wood  on  ye  Inhabitants  of  ye  sd  Citty  and  bring  or  Return 
Such  Estimate  in  the  Clarks  office  on  or  before  ye  first  of 
Decemb’r  next 


In  Common  Council,  January  10,  171 J. 

Resolved  that  three  hundred  Load  of  fyre  wood  be 
Ryd  by  ye  Inhabitants  of  this  Citty  for  ye  burger  guards 
and  it  is  therefore  [ordered]  yl  billets  be  write  &  brought 
to  every  Inhabitant  what  he  is  to  Ryde  it  is  also  Resolvd 
yl  1000  yalow  pine  Stockados  of  14  foot  long  &  12  Inches 
thinck  at  ye  Smalest  End  for  Repairing  ye  sd  Citty  Shall 
be  Ryd  for  w’h  a  warrant  Shall  be  directed  to  ye  assess¬ 
ors  of  y’s  Citty  to  ye  end  yt  they  Return  an  Estimate 
thereof  under  their  hands  &  Seals  in  ye  Clark  office  on 
or  before  ye  12th  Instant  that  ye  Inhabitants  may  Ryde 
ye  Same 

It  Is  further  Resolved  y1  ye  following  persons  be  ap¬ 
pointed  fyre  masters  in  this  Citty  to  Serve  for  ye  Ensue- 
ing  year  viz1  1st  ward  Barent  Eglibertse  Joh’s  Ten 
Broek;  2d  Hendrick  Ten  Eyk  Barent  Sanders;  3d  Jacob 
'  Evertse  Peter  Rvckman 

orderd  that  they  Shall  be  Servd  with  a  warrant  for 
viewing  ye  fyre  places  & c.  in  this  Citty 

February  14.  —  A  petition  of  Teunis  Bradt  of  this 
Citty  being  Read  wherein  he  humbly  beggs  to  be  nomi¬ 
nated  &  appointed  Sexon  of  the  Citty  of  Albany  &  to 
have  ye  Benefitt  to  receive  ye  Perquisites  Belonging  to  ye 
S  office  w’h  was  Granted  him,  accordingly 

Teunis  Bradt  appointed  Chamerlain  of  this  Citty  in 
Stead  of  his  father 


In  Common  Council,  Feb.  19,  17 1J. 
The  Assessors  of  this  Citty  have  brought  in  their 
Estimate’s  of  one  thousand  Stockados  Pursuant  to  ye 
Resolution  of  ye  Comonalty  on  ye  10th  of  Jan’y  last,  w’h 


268 


The  City  Records. 

Estimates  are  approv’d  &  order’d  that  billets  be  given 
out  to  ve  Several!  Inhabitants  of  ye  S  ‘  Citty  to  ye  end  yl 
Every  one  Rides  his  Proportion  on  or  before  ye  23th  In¬ 
stant,  and  that  ye  Inhabitants  of  ye  Sd  Citty  Shall  Ryde 
their  Proportion  of  firewood  on  or  before  ye  time  afore¬ 
said 

March  4. — Resolved  that  a  fair  list  Shall  be  drawn  of 

/  N 

all  those  who  have  neglected  to  Ryde  their  quota  of  fire 
wood  for  ye  burger  guards  &  warrants  directed  by  ye 
aldermen  of  ye  Respective  wards  to  ye  Severall  Consta¬ 
bles  thereof  to  Levey  ye  Sume  of  three  Shill’s  on  ye 
goods  &  Chattels  of  ye  offenders  for  every  load  of  wood 
they  have  not  Ryde  as  aforesd  at  any ’time  after  yc  8th  of 
this  Instant 

it  is  Resolved  that  ye  following  ordinance  be  Publishd 
(viz1) 

By  the  Mayor  Aldermen  &  Commonalty  of  the  Citty 
of  Albany 

An  Ordinance. 

Whereas  an  ordinance  made  by  ye  Mayor  Aldermen 
and  Commonalty  of  ye  sd  Citty  Published  on  the  3d  day 
of  aprill  1711  against  Severall  Persons  who  are  presumd 
to  Retaile  &  use  manuall  Occupations  without  being 
made  freemen  of  ye  sd  Citty  which  will  be  Expird  on  ye 
3d  day  of  aprill  next  It  is  therefore  hereby  Published  and 
Declard  y4  Every  Clause  &  article  Containd  &  Expresd 
in  ye  sd  ordinanc  Shall  be  and  Remain  in  full  force  & 
vertue  for  ye  Speace  of  one  year  next  after  the  date 
hereof 

And  whereas  it  is  very  nesessary  that  y°  hoggs  in  this 
Citty  &  Libertys  thereof  be  Ringd  to  Prevent  their  Roat- 
ing  up  the  gras  It  is  therefore  hereby  ordaind  &  declard 
yl  all  hoggs  or  Piggs  which  Shall  Run  at  Large  in  ye  sd 
Citty  and  Liberties  not  Ringd  to  prevent  their  Roating 
as  aforsd  it  Shall  and  may  be  Lawfull  for  any  Person  or 
Persons  to  Seize  upon  Such  hog  or  hoggs  Pig  or  Piggs 
for  his  or  their  use  benefitt  and  behoofe  as  a  forfietor  for 
the  owners  neglect  Given  in  Albany  the  4th  of  march 
in  ye  10th  year  of  her  maj’s  Reign  annoq’o  Do  171 J 


269 


The  City  Records. 

This  day  the  Comonalty  have  agreed  with  Johannis 
Dwandlaer  Jun’r  &  Peter  waldron  to  Square  Sharpe  & 
Sett  up  the  Stockados  w’h  are  now  ryd  for  this  Citty 
who  are  to  have  Seaven  pence  half  penny  for  Each 
Stockado  they  Shall  So  Square  Sharpe  &  Sett  in  a  Regu¬ 
lar  way  ye  Sd  Service  is  to  be  performd  at  or  before  ye 
p’mo  may  next 

Whereas  ye  Comonalty  are  informd  that  fodder  is  Sett 
up  by  Severall  ^People  in  yards  of  Sundry  persons  with¬ 
out  ye  north  gate  in  ye  3'  ward  of  this  Citty  to  ye  Great 
danger  of  ye  Sd  Citty  if  Sett  a  fire  be  evil  men  or  acci¬ 
dently  (w’h  we  hope  god  will  prevent)  It  is  therefore 
orderd  that  a  warrant  Shall  be  directed  to  y  high  Con¬ 
stable  of  this  Citty  to  Cause  Such  person  or  persons  to 
remove  such  Straw  So  dangerously  Sett  up  as  aforesd  to 
Some  other  Convenient  place  at  or  before  ye  12th  Instant 
on  penalty  as  they  will  answer  to  ye  Contrary 

The  following  persons  are  now  appointed  by  the  * 
Anthony  Bogardt,  william  hogan;  Johan’s  Beekman, 
harp1  Jacobse,  wm.  Gysbertse,  Tho  harmense 


By  the  Mayor  Aldermen  and  Commonalty  of  the  Citty 
of  Albany 

An  Ordinance . 

Whereas  Sundry  Persons  in  this  Citty  &  County  of 
Albany  do  Presume  to  Sell  Strong  Liquor  by  Retaile 
without  being  duely  Lycenc’d  we  do  therefore, hereby 
Publish  &  declare  that  after  ye  publication  hereof  no 
person  or  Persons  whatsoever  within  the  Said  Citty  & 
County  Shall  by  themselves  or  others  Sell  any  Liquors 
by  Retaile  under  the  quantity  of  five  Gallons  without 
being  duly  Lycenc’d  as  aforesaid  on  Painalty  of  forfiet- 
ing  tor  Such  offence  the  Same  of  five  Pounds  for  the  be¬ 
hoof  of  Such  person  or  Persons  as  Shall  Sue  for  the 
Same  Given  in  albany  ye  25th  of  february  in  the  10th 
year  of  her  maj’s  Reign  annoq’o  Do.  1712 


270 


The  City  Records. 

In  Common  Council,  March  25,  1712. 

The  Commonalty  have  this  day  Sold  unto  Leiv1  Coho 
John  Schuyler  for  the  Sume  of  three  pounds  a  Certain 
Small  peece  of  ground  Scituate  Lying  &  being  here  in 
the  Citty  of  Albany  in  ye  first  ward  adjoyning  unto  ye 
lott  of  ye  S!  John  Schuyler  haveing  on  ye  East  ye  lott  of 
Anthony  Van  Schaick  &  on  ye  west  ye  high  Road  con¬ 
taining  in  lenth  on  ye  East  &  on  ye  west  Syde  Six  and  a 
half  foot  &  in  breath  four  Rod  &  Seaven  foot  fronting 
towards  ye  Rutten  kill  Rinlands  measure,  for  wk:  peece 
of  ground  the  mayor  of  the  Sd  Citty  is  to  give  a  Release 
unto  ye  S1  John  Schuyler,  and  that  ye  Sume  of  three 
pounds  is  to  be  paid  unto  Leiv1  Samuel  Babington  for 
Sundry  Disbursments  in  Repairing  ye  Great  Guns  in  this 
Citty  & c 

The  Comonalty  have  also  Sold  unto  maritie  wife  of 
Anthony  van  Schaick  &  Johanna  anthonize  van  Stryden 
for  the  Sume  of  thirty  Shillings  a  certain  Small  peece  of 
Ground  Scituate  Lying  &  being  here  in  ye  Citty  of 
Albany  in  2d  ward  next  unto  their  house  containing  in 
breath  on  ye  north  End  at  ye  small  house  of  hendrick 
Van  Ness  three  foot  &  Seaven  Inches  &  in  breath  till  it 
Runs  unto  ye  lott  of  ye  sd  maratie  van  Schaick  &  Joha’a 
anthonize  Van  Stryden  twenty  Eight  foot  &  four  Inches 
for  w’h  peece  of  ground  it  is  Resolved  yl  ye  mayor  of  ye 
sd  Citty  Shall  give  a  Release  unto  ye  sd  maritie  Van 
Schaick  &  Johanna  anthonize  van  Stryden 


albany  ye  10th  June  1712 
may  it  please  your  Excellency 

we  take  leave  to  acq1  y’r  Ex’cy  yl  we  are  at  present  in 
a  Sad  Condition  o’r  Indians  ye  5  nations  Inclind  to  joyn 
w’th  ye  Tuscarora  Indians  &  mistrustfull  yl  we  are  joynd 
with  those  of  Carolina  to  distroy  y’m  yl  all  ye  Indians  are 
meeting  at  a  place  on  ye  Tuskohanna  River  w’h  we  think 
will  be  a  Bad  Consequence  at  last  ye  sd  Indians  puffd  up 
ye  sd  Nations  with  maney  lyes  to  w’h  we  understand 
they  give  ear,  and  ye  french  Intrest  among  this  who  are 


271 


The  City  Records. 

never  neuter  give  us  Reason  to  desire  y’r  Ex’cy  to  take 
Such  Necessary  Care  as  y’r  Ex’cy  Shall  Judge  most 
proper  to  defend  us,  we  doubt  not  but  ye  Com’rs  of  the 
Indian  affairs  have  fully  Informd  y’r  Ex’cy  of  ye  particu¬ 
lars  Colo:  Peter  Schuyler  who  is  much  Esteemd  by  ye 
Indians  &  has  a  great  Sway  among  y'm  haveing  always 
acted  in  y8  absence  of  ye  gov’r  Gen’ll  as  Chiefe  with 
them  &  he  being  now  out  of  ye  Commission  for  ye  Indian 
affairs,  we  do  humbly  desire  y’r  Ex'cy  to  restore  him  in 
his  former  Station,  being  we  know  he  has  Great  Influ¬ 
ence  on  them 


In  Common  Council,  June  16,  1712. 
Resolved  that  an  ordinance  be  prepard  made  &  pub¬ 
lished  for  Prohibiting  giveing  &  Selling  of  Strong  Liquor 
to  ye  Indians  in  this  Citty  and  County  of  Albany  on  pain  * 
&  penalty  of  forfieting  the  Sume  of  five  pounds  for  the 
behoofe  of  ye  Sherrif  or  any  other  person  or  persons 
who  Shall  Sue  for  the  Same  by  Conviction  of  one  or 
more  witnesses  before  any  of  her  maj’s  Court  of  Record 
in  this  Citty, 

It  is  also  orderd  and  Resolved  yl  it  Shall  be  inserted 
in  ye  sd  ordinance  yl  no  person  or  persons  Shall  adress ' 
themselfs  nor  Speake  to  any  Indian  or  Indians  Squae  or 
Squas  Comeing  down  hudsons  River  or  from  Canadas 
without  ye  Stockados  of  ye  sd  Citty  on  pain  &  peanalty 
of  ten  Pounds  for  Each  offence  for  ye  Behoofe  of  ye 
Shirref  or  any  other  Person  or  Persons  who  Shall  Sue 
for  the  Same  before  any  Court  of  Record  in  ye  sd  Citty 
by  Conviction  of  one  or  more  Credible  witnesses 

It  is  further  Resolved  yl  an  ordinance  Publishd  ye  30th 
day  of  may  1711  Expird  by  its  owne  Limitation  Shall  be 
&  Remaine  In  force  till  further  order 

June  17. —  It  is  orderd  that  the  following  ordinance 
Shall  be  publishd  Relateing  ye  Indian  Trade  viz1 

By  the  Mayor  Recorder  Alderman  &  Comonalty  of  ye 
Citty  of  Albany  and  the  Justices  of  the  said  Citty  & 
County 

[Annals,  vi .] 


24 


272 


The  City  Records. 

An  Ordinance. 

Whereas  it  hath  been  found  by  Experience  yt  yp  Sell¬ 
ing  &  giving  of  Rum  &  other  strong  Liquor  to  ye  Indians 
in  this  Citty  &  County  hath  been  very  prejudiciall  in 
time  of  war  &  other  Services  for  Preventing  the  Like 
for  the  future  be  it  ordaind  publishd  &  declard  yl  if  any 
person  or  persons  whatsoever  within  ye  s  Citty  &  County 
who  shall  from  &  after  y?  date  hereof  give  Sell  or  other 
wise  dispose  of  any  Rum  Brandy  Spirits  wine  beer  ale 
Syder  or  any  other  Strong  liquor  whatsoever  to  any 
Indian  or  Indians  Squae  or  Squaes  being  thereof  Law¬ 
fully  convicted  before  any  of  her  maj’es  Courts  of  Re¬ 
cord  in  y’s  Citty  Shall  for  every  Such  offence  forfiett  ye 
Sume  of  five  pounds  for  ye  behoofe  of  the  Sherrif  or  any 
oy’er  person  yl  Shall  Sue  for  the  same 

And  whereas  an  ordinance  made  and  publishd  by  ye 
mayor  Recorder  Alderman  &  Comonalty  of  ye  Citty 
afores'1  on  ye  BOth  day  of  may  1711  against  Severall 
persons  of  this  Citty  &  Schinechtady  who  did  much 
Incroach  upon  ye  Indian  Trade  w’h  is  Expird  by  its 
owne  Limitation  It  is  therefore  hereby  publisd  ordaind  & 
declard  y;  Every  Clause  &  article  therein  Containd  shall 
be  &  Remaine  in  its  full  force  &  vertue  untill  further 
order  and  those  who  do  or  Shall  offend  against  ye  Same 
Shall  be  Lyable  to  pay  such  fines  &  forfietures  as  therein 
is  Set  forth 

That  no  Indian  or  Indians  Squae  or  Squas  coming 
down  hudsons  River  from  ye  Lake  and  all  oy’r  Strange 
or  far  Indians  from  any  other  way  Shall  not  Lye  & 
Lodge  within  ye  Stockados  of  ye  Sd  Citty  with  his  or 
their  bever  or  peltry  and  y1  no  person  or  persons  Shall 
Ryde  Carry  Convey  w’th  wagon  or  Canoe  nor  receive 
any  pak  bever  or  peltery  in  his  or  their  Care  &  Custody 
of  any  such  Indian  or  Indians  Squa  or  Squas  nor  take  or 
suffer  y’m  in  his  or  their  house  to  Lodge  at  night  under 
pain  and  penalty  of  forfieting  ye  Sume  of  five  pound  for 
Each  offence  for  ye  behoofe  of  ye  Shirrif  or  any  oy’r 
person  yl  Shall  Sue  for  the  Same  &  to  be  Sued  as  aforesd 
That  in  case  ye  Sherrif  his  deputy  or  any  oy’r  person 


273 


The  City  Records. 

or  persons  Shall  on  his  &  their  owne  accord  Contract 
agree  or  make  up  the  matter  with  any  person  or  persons 
who  have  Committed  any  offence  as  before  mentioned  or 
with  any  body  Else  by  their  means  for  a  Less  Sume  o 
money  then  ye  fine  or  fines  aforesd  made  for  such  offences 
he  or  they  being  thereof  Convicted  by  one  or  more 
Credible  wittnesses  Shall  forfitt  &  pay  as  a  fine  for 
Each  offence  ye  Sume  of  five  pounds  for  ye  behoofe  of 
any  person  or  persons  yl  Shall  Sue  for  ye  Same  given  in 
Albany  ye  17th  of  June  in  ye  11th  year  of  her  maj’es 
Reign  a’o  1712 

June  25.  —  Mr.  Steplianis  Groesbeek  brings  in  a  peti¬ 
tion  of  Severall  Indian  Traders  &  Inhabitants  of  the  sd 
Citty  desireing  that  ye  ordinance  made  Some  time  this 
Instant  may  be  altered,  to  the  End  yf  they  may  Receive 
Indians  with  thar  packs  into  their  housen  to  trade  with 
them  &  that  they  may  have  a  free  trade  within  this  Citty 
according  the  Directions  of  ye  Citty  Charter  w’h  Peti¬ 
tion  is  Resolved  to  be  taken  in  further  Consideration 

It  is  further  Resolved  yl  ye  following  ordinance  Shall 
be  publishd  viz1 

By  the  mayor  Aldermen  &  Comonalty  of  the  Citty  of 
Albany 

An  Ordinance. 

Whereas  an  ordinance  made  &  publishd  ye  17th  of 
this  Instant  a  Claw  is  Renewd  as  in  ye  former  ordinance 
mentioned  viz1  that  no  person  or  persons  Shall  with  his 
or  their  wagon  or  wagons  Cart  or  Carts  horse  or  horses 
drive  or  Ryde  any  Indian  or  Indians  Squaw  or  Squaws 
nearer  to  this  Citty  from  Schinnechtady  then  at  yc  Sand- 
bergh,  upon  pain  &  penalty  of  paying  as  a  fine  the  Sume 
of  five  pounds  for  the  behoof  of  the  Sherrif  or  any  other 
person  that  Shall  Sue  for  the  Same  w’h  Said  Claw  is 
hereby  Repealed  &  made  null  and  void  to  all  Intents  & 
purposes  and  yl  no  persons  whatsoever  Shall  Rvde  or 
drive  in  wagon  Cart  or  Slee  any  Indian  or  Indians  Squaw 
or  Squaws  with  bever  or  peltry  any  nearer  to  ye  sd  Citty 
then  three  hundred  passes  from  any  Gate  of  this  Citty 
upon  pain  &  penalty  of  paying  as  fine  ye  Sume  of  five 


274 


The  City  Records. 

pound  for  ye  behoofe  of  the  Sherrif  or  any  other  person 
or  persons  that  Shall  Sue  for  ye  Same  Given  in  Albany 
ye  25th  of  June  in  the  11th  year  of  her  maj’es  Reign 
Annoq’o  Do.  1712 

June  28.  —  The  petition  of  Severall  freemen  of  ye 
Citty  of  Albany  Desireing  ye  alteration  of  a  Claw  in  an 
ordinance  made  on  ye  17th  Instant  Being  Read,  and 
Granted 

It  is  order’d  that  ye  following  ordinance  Shall  be  pub- 
lishd  to  morrow  viz1 

By  the  mayor  Recorder  aldermen  &  Comonalty  of  the 
Citty  of  albany 

An  Ordinance. 

Whereas  the  Said  mayor  Recorder  aldermen  &  Com¬ 
monalty  have  thought  fitt  to  Repeal  the  ordinances 
made  publishd  ordaind  &  declard  on  ye  17  &  25th  day  of 
this  Instant  w’h  Said  ordinances  are  hereby  Repeald 
made  null  void  and  of  no  force  to  all  intents  &  purposes 
whatsoever  &  do  hereby  Publish  ordain  &  declare  That 
no  person  or  persons  whatsoever  Shall  upon  ye  anivall 
of  any  Indian  or  Indians  Squaw  or  Squaws  (Comeing 
from  ye  westward)  adress  themselfs  nor  Speak  to  them 
nor  Intice  them  without  ye  Gates  of  ye  sd  Citty  by  Sign 
or  otherwise  howsoever  to  trade  with  themselfs  or  any 
other  person  or  persons  being  thereof  convicted  by  the 
Sherrif  or  any  other  person  or  persons  Shall  forfiet  & 
pay  for  Each  Such  offence  the  Sume  of  five  pounds  Cur¬ 
rant  money  one  half  thereof  for  the  behoofe  of  the  said 
mayor  aldermen  &  Comonalty  and  the  other  half  for  the 
behoofe  of  the  Sherrif  or  any  other  person  that  Shall 
Sue  for  the  Same  at  ye  mayors  Court  of  the  said  Citty 
or  any  Court  of  record  within  the  Same 

That  no  Person  or  persons  whatsoever  within  this 
Citty  Shall  Send  out  or  make  use  of  any  Broakers 
whether  Christians  or  Indians  in  the  management  of  the 
Indian  Trade  upon  pain  &  penalty  of  paying  as  a  fine 
for  Each  offence  the  Sume  of  five  pounds  for  ye  behoofe 
of  &  to  be  Sued  as  aforesd 

That  no  Person  or  persons  whatsoever  Shall  Ryde  or 


275' 


The  City  Records. 

drive  in  wagon  Cart  or  Slee  any  Indian  or  Indians  Squaw 
or  Squaws  or  their  Sever  &  peltry  any  nearer  to  the  sd 
Citty  then  three  hundred  paces  from  any  Gate  of  the 
Citty  aforesaid  upon  pain  &  penalty  of  paying  as  a  fine 
for  Each  offence  the  Sume  of  five  pounds  for  ye  behoofe 
of  &  to  be  Sued  as  aforesaid 

That  no  person  or  persons  whatsoever  Shall  adress 
him  or  them  seifs  to  any  Indian  or  Indians  Squaw  or 
Squaws  comeing  down  hudsons  River  with  Sever  &  pel¬ 
try  Schaahkook  &  River  Indians  Excepted  nor  Speake 
to  him  her  or  them  without  y°  limitts  &  liberty  of  ye  sd 
Citty  on  pain  &  penalty  of  paying  as  a  fine  for  Each 
offence  the  Sume  of  ten  pounds  for  the  behoofe  of  &  to- 
be  Sued  as  aforesaid 

That  not  above  the  Number  of  fifteen  Indians  Come¬ 
ing  down  hudsons  river  Shall  be  allowed  to  Stay  & 
Lodge  in  the  s 1  Citty  at  one  time  with  his  or  their  bever 
&  peltry  and  that  all  Such  person  or  persons  who  Shall 
Entertain  or  Suffer  any  Indian  or  Indians  to  Stay  & 
Lodge  in  his  or  their  houses  Kitchins  or  Elsewhere  after 
he  she  or  they  Shall  have  warning  from  the  mayor 
Recorder  aldermen  or  assistants  of  the  said  Citty  or 
from  any  one  of  them  Shall  forfiet  &  pay  as  a  fine  for 
Each  offence  the  Sume  of  ten  pounds  for  the  behoofe  of 
&  to  be  Sued  as  aforesaid, 

That  no  person  or  persons  whatsoever  Shall  from  and 
after  ye  date  hereof,  give  Sell  or  otherwise  dispose  of 
any  Rum  Brandy  Spirits  .wine  beer  ale  Syder  or  any 
other  Strong  Liquor  whatsoever  to  any  Indian  or  Indians 
Squaw  or  Squaws  on  pain  &  penalty  of  paying  as  a  fine 
for  Each  offence  the  Sume  of  five  pounds  for  the  Behoof 
of  &  to  be  Sued  as  aforesaid  the  offender  Being  Convicted 
by  one  or  more  Credible  Evidences, 

That  in  Case  any  person  or  persons  haveing  Committed 
any  offence  as  before  mentioned  &  the  Sherrif  his  Deputy 
or  any  other  person  or  persons  Shall  on  his  or  their  own 
accord  Contract  agree  or  make  up  the  matter  with  Such 
offender  or  with  Some  body  Else  by  their  means  for  a 
lesse  Sume  of  money  then  the  fine  or  fines  aforesaid 


276 


The  City  Records. 

made  for  Such  offences,  he  She  or  they  being  thereof 
Convicted  by  one  or  more  Credible  Evidences  Shall  for- 
liet  &  pay  as  a  fine  for  Each  offence  the  Same  of  five 
pound  for  the  behoofe  of  &  to  be  Sued  as  aforesd  given 
in  albany  ye  30th  day  of  June  in  ye  1 1th  year  of  her 
maj’es  Reign  a’o  Do.  1712 

July  22.  —  It  is  Resolved  that  fifty  pound  be  raised  & 
levy’d  on  the  Inhabitants  of  this  Citty  for  ye  payment  of 
Such  Debts  as  y  ’  sd  Citty  is  Charged  with  It  is  orderd  v1 
a  warrant  shall  be  directed  to  ye  assessors  of  this  Citty 
for  ye  Equally  &  Impartially  assessing  &  rateing  ye  Inhab¬ 
itants  of  ye  Citty  &  bring  in  their  Estimates  in  ye  Clarks 
office  on  or  before  ye  first  day  of  august  next  Ensueing 

orderd  that  a  billet  be  put  on  ye  Church  giving  notice 
to  all  persons  who  have  any  demands  on  this  Citty  to 
bring  in  their  accounts  to  the  Treasurer  forthwith  The 
following  persons  viz1  Hend’k  Hansen  harmanus  wendell 
Esq’s  ald’n  Dirk  Bradt  &  Johannis  Lansing  ass’ts  are 
appointed  To  view  &  Examine  the  Sd  accounts  and  bring 
in'  their  Report  in  Comon  Councill  on  ye  first  day  of 
august  next  Ensueing 


In  Common  Council,  August' 5,  1712. 
Present:  Rob1  Livingston  Jun’r  Esq’r  may’r  John 
Cuyler  Esq’r  Recorder  hend:  Hansen  Wessel  Ten 
Broek  David  Schuyler  Abraham  Cuyler  Ger1  Rose- 
boom  harmanus  wendell  Esq’s  ald’n  Dirke  Bradt 
Job’s  Lansing  gysb1  marcelis  ass’ts 
Pursuant  to  y  Resolution  of  ye  Commonalty  on  the 
22th  of  July  last  ye  Committee  then  appointed  to  view 
&  Examine  ye  accounts  of  the  sd  Citty  who  bring  their 
Report  this  day  that  they  have  Examind  ye  accounts  of 
ye  s1  Citty  amo.  to  £77  w’h  Report  is  approv’d  of 

The  Chamberlain  was  orderd  to  give  the  Severall  per¬ 
sons  Credit  in  his  Citty  Book  Except  an  account  of  wm 
hogen  w’h  is  first  to  be  Examind  by  ye  Comonalty 

The  Comonalty  takeing  unto  Consideration  yl  this  is 
much  Indebted  they  do  therefore  Resolve  that  £10  be 


The  City  Records.  277 

added  to  ye  £50  to  be  Raisd  &  leveyed  on  the  Inhabit¬ 
ants  of  the  sd  Citty 

Whereas  Severall  persons  are  indebted  to  this  Citty 
who  do  delay  to  pay  it  is  therefore  orderd  that  ye  Cham¬ 
berlain  do  demand  &  Receive  the  Same  &  bring  a  Report 
to  ye  Comonalty  ye  19th  Instant 

It  is  orderd  that  the  following  ordinance  Shall  by 
publish’d  viz1 

By  the  mayor  aldermen  &  Comonalty  of  the  Citty  of 
albany 

An  Ordinance. 

Whereas  Complaints  are  made  that  Severall  persons 
of  this  Citty  do  buy  &  take  in  pawn  Cloathing  &  acutre- 
ments  of  the  Soldiers  to  the  prejudice  of  her  maj’es 
Service  for  preventing  ye  like  for  the  future,  It  is  Re¬ 
solved  that  it  Shall  be  ordaind  publishd  &  Declar’d  and 
it  is  hereby  ordaind  publishd  &  Declar’d  that  if  any  per¬ 
son  or  persons  whatsoever  shall  buy  or  take  in  pawn  any 
Cloathing  or  acutrements  of  any  Soldier  or  Soldiers  shall 
forfiet  &  pay  for  Every  offence  the  Sume  of  30/  &  return 
Such  Cloathing  or  acutrements  So  bought  or  taken  in 
pawn  of  any  Soldier  as  aforesaid, 

It  is  further  ordaind  &  declard  that  all  persons  whose 
Lott  is  adjoyning  to  the  Rutten  Creek  Shall  forthwith 
Clean  the  Same  of  all  hit  and  ye  Neighbors  on  both  Sydes 
of  the  Creek  are  to  be  Equall  help  full  to  one  another 
in  Cleaning  ye  Same  on  or  before  ye  19th  Instant  on 
penalty  of  paying  as  a  fine  for  Each  offence  20/  and 
when  Cleaned  no  person  Shall  throw  or  Carry  any  dung 
or  filt  in  the  sd  Creek  on  penalty  of  6/  for  Every  offence 
to  be  Recovered  by  any  person  that  Shall  Sue  for  the 
Same  before  any  Justice  of  ye  peace  within  this  Citty 
given  in  albany  ye  5th  of  aug1  1712 

At  the  Request  of  Rob1  Livingston  Jun’r  Esq'r  mayor 
of  this  Citty  the  Commonalty  have  Sold  unto  him  for 
20/.  the  previledge  of  building  over  yr‘  Rutten  Creek 
behind  his  lott  ye  breath  thereof  as  it  lyes  between  ye 
lott  of  the  heirs  of  harme  Rutgers  on  the  East  &  the  lott 
of  anthony  van  Schaick  on  ye  west,  It  is  therefore  orderd 
that  the  Recorder  any  three  of  the  aldermen  &  any  three 


278  The  City  Records. 

of  the  ass’ts  Shall  Give  him  a  Release  thereof  Accord¬ 
ingly 

It  being  moved  that  one  or  more  wells  be  made  In  ye 
first  &  Second  wards  of  this  Citty  w’h  is  Refer’d  till 
further  Consideration 

Aug.  15.  —  Whereas  the  Comonalty  Being  Informd 
that  Evert  wendell  of  this  Citty  haveing  Incroachd  by 
building  over  the  Rounds  passage  behind  his  lott  Con¬ 
trary  to  his  lease 

It  is  Resolved  that  further  Enquiry  Shall  be  made 
whether  ye  ground  he  has  built  upon  properly  belongs 
unto  him  or  not,  if  not  then  the  sd  building  he  has 
erected  to  be  Removed  and  in  ye  mean  time  that  he  or 
any  other  person  by  his  means  Ceases  finishing  any 
further  building  there  on  his  or  their  perril,  and  that  the 
Said  Evert  wendell  be  Servd  with  a  Copy  hereof  accord¬ 
ingly 

It  is  further  Resolved  that  no  Person  or  Persons  what¬ 
soever  Shall  Infence  any  Ground  behind  his  or  their  lotts 
of  Ground  towards  any  Rounds  Passage  of  the  said  Citty 
without  haveing  first  Liberty  of  the  Comonalty 

Sept.  2.  —  This  day  are  war’ts  Issued  to  the  Asses'rs 
of  this  Citty  for  the  Equally  and  Impartially  Assessing 
all  &  Every  the  Inhabitants  of  ye  sd  Citty  and  bring  in 
their  Estimates  in  the  Clerks  office  this  Citty  on  or  be¬ 
fore  the  4th  of  this  Instant 

It  is  Resolved  that  when  y°  Assesm’ts  are  deliverd  in 
the  Recorder  &  any  three  aldermen  Shall  Issue  out  their 
warrants  to  the  Collector  of  this  Citty  for  Collecting  & 
paying  Sixty  pounds  unto  the  Citty  Chamberlaine  on  or 
before  ye  12  day  of  October  next  Ensuring 

Sept.  8.  — It  is  Resolved  that  <£15  Shall  be  added  to 
£60  Tax  of  this  Citty  w’h  is  to  [be]  levyed  on  or  before 
ye  12  day  of  October  next,  and  also  that  one  well  Shall 
be  made  in  the  first  ward  of  the  sd  City  to  w’h  End  the 
Comonalty  have  appointed  the  following  persons  for 
managers  thereof  viz1  Rob1  Livingston  Jun’r  Esq’r 
may’r  David  Schuyler  &  harmanus  wendell  Esq’rs  aider- 
men  to  whom  is  to  be  pd  <£15  out  of  ye  Lycence  money 
for  paying  the  Charge  of  makeing  the  sd  well 


279 


The  City  Records , 

Albany  ye  14th  Octob:  1712 
This  day  being  appointed  by  the  Charter  of  the  Citty 
of  Albany  for  ye  aldermen  of  ye  sd  Citty  to  make  a 
return  of  ye  aldermen  assistants  &  Constables  who  are 
Chosen  to  Serve  for  ye  Ensueing  year  according  ye 
Return  made  thereof  in  ye  Clerks  office  on  ye  29th  of 
September  last  and  are  as  followeth  viz1 

First  Ward. 

Aldermen.  Assistants. 

David  Schuyler  Evert  Wendell 

harmanus  wendell  Daniel  Bratt 

Joh’s  Ten  Broek  Constable 

Second  Ward. 

Abraham  Cuyler  Gysbert  marselis 

Joh’s  visher  Hend’k  Roseboom 

Isaac  Kip  Constable 

Third  Ward. 

Hendrick  Hansen  Joh’s  Hanse 

Wessel  Ten  Broek  Jacob  Evertse 

Anthony  Lewis  Constable 

Theunis  Brat  Chamberlaine 
Joh’s  wendell  High  Constable 


At  a  meeting  of  the  Recorder  and  aldermen  of  ye  City 
of  Albany  the  25th  nov’r  1712:  Present,  John 
Cuyler  Esq’r  recorder  Hend.  Hansen  David  Schuyler 
Wess’l  Ten  Broek  Abraham  Cuyler  harmanus  wen¬ 
dell  Joh’s  harmense  visher  Esq’rs  aid’ll. 

This  day  Mr.  Recorder  acquainted  this  meeting  that 
Mr.  John  Collins  had  told  him  that  Coll’o  Killian  van 
Renselaer  had  Desired  him  to  tell  the  Recorder  of  this 
Citty  or  any  of  ye  magestrates  of  yR  s'1  Citty  that  he 
would  not  Suffer  any  of  ye  Inhabitants  of  y°  City  of 
Albany  to  cut  timber  or  firewood  in  his  mannor  without 
his  consent  or  an  agreement  iirst  to  be  made  with  the 
magestrates  of  ye  s  City,  and  Since  he  was  not  willing 
to  trust  on  his  memory  w’h  might  have  fail’d  him,  he 
desired  that  Mr.  Collins  may  be  desird  to  attend  this 


280 


The  City  Records. 

meeting  w’h  accordingly  he  did  who  Say’d  what  is  above 
mentioned  and  moreover  no  persons  Should  be  Ignor¬ 
ant  hereof  if  they  Should  be  prosecuted  by  y3  sd  Coll’o 
Renselaer  in  case  no  agreenfi  be  made  as  aforesaid 

The  magistrates  Considered  the  matter  and  told  Mr. 
Collins  that  Since  there  is  no  Comission  come  for  a 
mayor,  without  whom  no  Comon  Councill  can  be  held, 
but  as  soon  as  such  Comission  is  recd  the  Comonalty 
would  then  Give  Col’o  Renselaer  an  answer 


At  a  meeting  of  ye  Record’r  aldermen  and  assistants 
of  ye  City  of  Albany  ye  29th  day  of  Novemb’r  1712 

This  meeting  being  Inform’d  that  Coll’o  Killiaen  van 
Renselaer  has  Caused  an  advertisement  to  be  put  on  ye 
Church  prohibiting  the  Inhabitants  of  the  City  of  Albany 
to  cut  any  timber  or  fire  wood  within  his  Colony,  and  is 
as  followeth  viz1 

Killiaen  van  Renselaer  Esq’r  of  ye  manor  of  Rense- 
laerwyck  in  the  county  of  Albany  doth  hereby  give 
notice  to  the  Inhabitants  of  ye  City  of  Albany  (and  he 
hath  already  Enform’d  ye  magestrates  of  ye  sd  City  of  ye 
Same  that  he  will  not  Suffer  any  timber  or  fire-wood  to 
be  cut  down  with  in  his  Colony  by  any  of  ye  Inhabitants 
of  ye  sd  City  without  his  lycence  to  w’h  he  hath  only 
recd  a  delatory  answer  from  them)  that  none  of  ye 
Inhabitants  of  ye  sd  City  do  from  &  after  ye  1st  day  of 
dec’r  now  next  Ensueing  cut  down  any  timber  or  fire 
■wood  within  his  s  '  Colony  without  Lycence  from  him  if 
they  do  they  will  be  prosecuted  for  ye  Same  dated  in 
Albany  this  28th  day  of*  nov’r  in  ye  Eleventh  year  of  her 
maj’s  Reign  annoq.  Do.  1712 

It  is  therefore  Resolved  by  the  Record'r  aid’ll  and 
ass’ts  of  ye  s  Citty  that  in  Case  Col’o  K  vn  Renselaer 
Shall  Prosecute  any  Inhabitant  of  the  City  of  Albany 
for  Cutting  &  carrying  away  Timber  or  firewood  were 
they  are  used  to  do  so  that  all  Such  Inhabitant  or  Inhab¬ 
itants  he  Shall  So  prosecute  before  a  Comission  for  a 


The  City  Records.  281 

mayor  off  this  Citty  be  sent  hither  from  n:  york  we 
make  our  selvs  defend'ts  for  him  or  them 

It  was  orderd  yl  wat  is  before  mentioned  in  this  meet- 
ing  and  in  ye  meeting  of  ye  Recorder  &  aldermen  on  ye 
25th  day  of  this  Instant  Should  be  drawn  out  by  ye  D  Ck 
and  put  on  ye  Church  forthwith  w’h  he  accordingly  did 


It  is  Resolved  By  ye  Recorder  &  ald’n  that  ye  follow¬ 
ing  persons  be  appointed  firemasters  for  ye  ensueing  year 
who  are  to  be  Servd  with  a  warrant  whereby  they  are  to 
Govern  themselvs  accordingly  viz1  1st  ward  Johan’s  van 
alenJan  van  Ness  2d  ward  Chrishophel  yetts  Claes  fonda 
3d  ward  Jan  Evertse  Cornells  Switts 

Whereas  the  Recorder  and  aldermen  of  the  City  of 
Albany  have  this  day  nominated  &  appointed  yow  to  be 
fire  masters  for  the  sd  Citty  for  the  Ensueing  year  yow 
or  the  major  part  of  yow  are  therefore  hereby  Required 
forthwith  on  the  Receipt  hereof  and  then  once  in  Every 
fourthnight  to  go  Round  and  view  ye  Chimneys  where 
fire  is  kept  within  the  said  Citty,  and  where  ever  yow 
find  Such  Chimneys  Extraordinary  fowl  yow  are  author¬ 
ized  to  fine  ye  owner  or  owners  in  the  Sume  of  three 
Shillings  for  ye  behooffe  of  *your  Selvs  who  are  to  Sue 
for  ye  Same,  yow  are  also  to  take  notice  that  no  fire  be 
kept  within  this  Citty  in  unconvenient  places  or  any 
fodder  which  may  tend  to  be  dangerous  to  ye  owner  & 
his  Neighbors  upon  penalty  of  forfieting  ye  like  Sume  of 
three  Shillings  for  Each  day  a  fire  &  fodder  be  kept  in 
Such  dangerous  &  unconvenient  places  after  warning 
Given  him  her  or  them  Given  in  albany  this  9th  day  of 
December  in  ye  Eleventh  year  of  her  maj ’s  Reign  annoq. 
Do.  1712 


Att  a  Mayor’s  Court  held  in  the  Citty  hall  of  albany 
ye  23th  of  December  1712 

Jan  Evertse  of  this  City  Coeper  appearing  in  Court  & 
acquainted  ye  Recorder  &  aldermen  that  william  Ilollie 
Lately  dec1  was  Yesterday  burryed  who  doth  desire  that 


282  The  City  Records. 

ye  funerall  Charges  may  be  pd  out  of  the  Effects  of  ye  sd 
hollie 

The  Recorder  &  aldermen  do  order  y1  ye  sd  Jan  Evertse 
with  Johannis  wendell  high  Constable  Shall  appraize  & 
take  an  inventory  of  yn  Effects  of  ye  sr]  william  Hollie  & 
deliver  the  same  with  an  account  of  ye  sd  funerall 
Charges  at  our  next  Mayors  Court 


att  a  mayors  Court  held  in  ye  Citty  hall  of  albany  ye 
6th  day  of  January  1712 

Jan  Evertse  according  to  ye  order  of  ye  last  Court 
brings  in  an  account  of  ye  funerall  Charges  of  wm  hollie 
decu  amounting  to  four  pound  Six  Shill’s  &  Six  pence  and 
also  an  Inventary  of  his  Effects  am’o  to  three  pound  five 
Shills 


Albany  ye  15th  day  of  JanTy  171§ 
Memorandum  that  this  day  Rob1  Livingston  Jun’r 
Esq’r  was  Sworn  as  Mayor  of  this  City  and  Clark  of  ,ye 
market  of  ye  sd  City  and  Coroner  of  ye  sd  City  &  County 
&  toke  the  usuall  oaths  appointed  by  ye  act  of  Parlement 


Att  a  Common  Councill  held  in  the  City  hall  of  albany 
y(l  15th  of  January  171§ 

It  is  orderd  that  an  ordinance  Shall  be  publish’d  pro¬ 
hibiting  all  persons  to  Sell  any  Strong  liquor  By  Retaile 
without  being  duly  Lycenced  on  penalty  as  the  acts  of 
Assembly  doth  direct,  and  also  relateing  Rydeing  in  this 
City 

By  the  Mayor  aldermen  &  Comonalty  of  the  City  of 
Albany 

An  Ordinance . 

Whereas  divers  Persons  of  this  City  &  County  of 
Albany  do  presume  to  Sell  Strong  Liquor  by  Retaile 
without  being  Lycenced,  for  preventing  the  Same  it  is 
hereby  publish’d  &  declar’d  that  after  yc  publication 
hereof  no  person  or  persons  whatsoever  within  this  City 


283 


The  City  Records. 

&  County  Shall  by  themselvs  or  any  others  Sell  or  Ex¬ 
pose  to  Sale  any  Strong  Liquors  by  retaile  under  ye 
quantity  of  five  Gallons  without  being  duely  lycenced  on 
pain  &  penalty  of  forfieting  for  Each  Such  offence  what 
is  mentioned  &  Expressed  in  an  act  of  Gen’l  Assembly 
of  the  Colony  of  New  york  in  yl  Case  is  made  &  provided 
It  is  further  publish’d  &  declar'd  yl  from  and  after  ye 
20th  day  of  this  Instant  no  person  or  persons  Shall  ride 
or  drive  any  horse  or  horses  with  Slee  wagon  or  Cart  in 
the  Streets  &  Lanes  of  this  Citty  faster  than  on  a  Stap 
or  a  verry  moderate  Trott  on  pain  &  penalty  of  forfiet¬ 
ing  for  Every  Such  offence  the  Sume  of  three  Shil’s  for 
the  behoofe  of  ye  Sherrif  or  any  other  person  as  Shall 
Sue  for  ye  Same  given  in  Albany  ye  16th  day  of  Jan’y  in 
ye  11th  year  of  her  maj’s  Reign  Annoq’o  Do.  171§ 

_ 

Att  a  Mayors  Court  held  in  ye  Citty  hall  of  Albany  ye 
20th  Jan’ry  17 If 

Jan  Evertse  appairing  in  Court  doth  desire  yhye  effects 
of  Wm.  Hollie  dec1  may  be  Expos’d  to-  Sale  by  public 
outcry  for  ye  payment  of  his  funeral!  Charges  w’h  is 
Granted  him 

March  17. — Whereas  ye  Constables  of  this  Citty  have 
been  warn’d  to  attend  ye  mayors  court  w’h  they  have 
neglected,  It  is  therefore  orderd  yl  henceforth  the  Con¬ 
stables  Shall  be  notice  given  to  attend  the  may’s  Court 
in  their  Respective  Returns  Begining  with  the  first  ward 
and  if  any  one  of  them  Should  happen  to  be  out  of  the 
County  ye  next  whose  turn  it  is  to  be  is  to  attend  in  his- 
or  their  Roome,  on  forfiture  of  Six  Shillings  for  the 
behoofe  of  the  Sherrif  who  is  to  Sue  for  the  Same 


In  Common  Council,  March  17,  171f 
Whereas  Complaints  are  made  yr  the  Severall  Reyolls 
or  Celler  Gutters  belonging  to  the  houses  of  Cornelis  van 
Schelluyne  Joh’s  Groesbeek  maritie  Eghberts  Cornelia 
Gylbert  &  Joh’s  Roseboom  Dirk  wessels  &  Job's  visher 
Esq.  w’h' doth  vent  out  in  ye  peril  street  within  ye  Stock- 
[Annals,  vi.]  25 


284 


The  City  Records. 

ados  near  to  ye  Corner  house  of  Joh’s  Cuyler  Esq’r  It  is 
orderd  that  ye  said  persons  cause  ye  Reyoels  or  Gutters 
to  be  leed  out  of  ye  sd  Stockados  in  ye  space  of  fourteen 
days  after  the  date  hereof 

It  is  orderd  that  the  following  ordinance  shall  be  pub- 
lishd  for  ye  ringing  of  hoggs  (viz1) 

By  the  may’r  aldermen  &  Comonalty  of  the  City  of 
Albany 

Whereas  it  is  found  by  Experience  that  ye  runing  of 
hoggs  at  Large  in  this  Citty  &  liberties  thereof  without 
being  ringd  attends  much  to  ye  damage  of  ye  Inhabitants 
of  ye  sd  City  for  preventing  thereof  &  their  roating  up  ye 
Grass  it  is  therefore  orderd  that  it  Shall  be  Publishd 
ordaind  &  declard  and  it  is  hereby  publishd  ordaind  & 
declard  that  no  hog  or  hoggs  pig  or  piggs  Shall  run  at 
Large  in  the  said  Citty  &  Liberties  at  any  time  after  ye 
publication  hereof  till  well  ringd  in  the  nose  with  good 
iron  wire  &  so  done  by  ye  hands  of  John  Prize  &  wm. 
Turner  or  either  of  y’m  who  are  hereby  required  to 
perform  that  Service  for  w’h  ye  owner  of  Such  hog  or 
hoggs  pig  or  piggs  are  to  pay  them  Six  pence  a  peece  for 
their  pains  that  all  Such  hoggs  &  piggs  w’h  Shall  be 
found  Runing  at  large  without  being  Ringd  as  aforesd 
Shall  be  forfieted  to  ye  use  of  Such  person  or  persons  as 
Shall  take  up  the  Same 

March  24.  —  It  is  Resolved  by  ye  Comonalty  now  con- 
viend  that  for  yc  future  none  of  ye  members  belonging  to 
ye  Comonalty  Shall  absent  themselvs  to  appear  in  Comon 
Council]  (if  duely  warning  given  him  or  them  or  notice 
left  at  his  or  their  house)  on  penalty  of  forfieting  three 
Shillings  for  Every  Such  neglect  for  ye  behoofe  of  y" 
Comonalty 

March  25. — This  day  it  being  agreed  by  Col’o  Killiaen 
van  Renselaer  Esq’r  of  ye  mannor  of  Renselaerwyck  in 
ye  County  of  albany  of  ye  one  part  and  ye  mayor  aider- 
men  &  Comonalty  of  ye  sd  City  of  ye  other  part,  that  ye 
Inhabitants  &  freeholders  of  ye  Citj^of  albany  shall  have 
free  liberty  for  ye  space  of  twenty  Six  year  Ensueing  ye 
29  day  of  September  last  past  to  Cutt  Ride  Convey  & 


285 


The  City  Records. 

Carry  away  out  of  ye  sd  manor  wood  &  stone  for  building- 
fencing  &  fuel  as  also  1  imber  &  materialls  for  all  other 
uses  as  they  Shall  have  occasion  for  in  ye  sd  City  &  liber¬ 
ties  thereof  paying  therefore  yearly  unto  ye  sd  Killiaen 
van  Renselaer  his  heirs  &  assigns  ye  Sume  of  Ten  Pound 
&  a  fatt  Sheep  on  ye  29  day  of  Sep’r  dureing  ye  sd  term 
It  is  therefore  Resolved  yl  ye  mayor  in  behalfe  of  ye 
Comonalty  Shall  Sign  Such  Indenture  with  ye  Said  Kil¬ 
liaen  van  Renselaer  accordingly 

March  26.  —  Whereas  for  ye  Safety  of  this  City  if  fire 
Should  take  on  any  houses  in  ye  Said  City  (which  god 
prevent)  It  is  thought  neccessary  &  needful  1  that  a  well 
be  made  in  each  ward  thereof  and  since  at  present  Stone 
cannot  well  be  Gott  It  is  Resolved  that  Rob1  Livingston 
Esq’r  mayor  and  Joh’s  Cuyler  Esq’r  Record,  do  waite 
on  Coll’o  Ingoldesby  Comanding  officer  of  her  maj’es 
Garrison  here  &  desire  Leave  to  take  away  about  one 
hundred  &  Sixty  Cart  load  of  Stone  (for  makeing  Such 
wells)  Lying  behind  her  maj’es  fort  with  promise  to 
return  So  much  when  demanded 


Att  a  mayors  Court  held  in  ye  Citty  hall  of  albany  ye 
14th  day  of  april  1713 
The  Court  opend 

Isaac  kip  Constable  absent  &  fin’d  Six  Shill’s 


Att  a  Comon  Councill  held  in  the  City  hall  of  albany 
ye  14th  of  april  17 13 

It  is  Resolved  that  the  aldermen  in  the  Respective 
wards  of  this  City  Shall  take  care  that  forth w'th  the 
Stockados  w'h  are  fallen  down  be  Sett  up  at  ye  charge  of  * 
ye  sd  Citty 


Att  a  Mayors  Court  held  in  the  Citty  hall  of  albany 
ye  12  Day  of  May  1713 

Ordered  that  warning  be  given  to  the  freemen  and  free 
holders  of  the  Third  ward  for  the  said  Citty  of  albany 


286 


The  City  Records. 

to  Electt  &  Chose  a  Constable  In  the  Room  of  anthony 
Lewis  to  morrow  the  13th  Instant 


Att  a  Comon  Councill  held  in  the  City  hall  of  albany 
ye  8th  day  of  May  1713 

Whereas  we  are  Informed  that  Some  persons  do  or 
Intend  to  measure  vacant  or  unaproved  ground  within  ye 
Limits  of  ye  City  by  Pretence  of  having  Right  thereto  It 
is  therefore  Resolved  without  Intent  to  debar  any  of  his 
Just  Right,  that  no  vacant  or  unaproved  Grounds  Shall 
be  measured  within  ye  Limitts  of  this  Citty  till  ye  Com¬ 
monalty  Shall  have  veiwed  their  titles  of  pretence  and 
orders  given  to  w’h  End  ye  following  persons  viz1  wessel 
ten  Broek  abraham  Cuyler  Harmanus  wendell  Esq’rs 
aldermen  Evert  wendell  gysbert  marcelis  and  Johan’s 
hanse  Com.  Councill  or  ye  major  part  of  them  and  Such 
others  of  ye  Comonalty  as  will  please  to  give  their 
assistance  are  appointed  a  Comittee  and  to  make  Return 
*of  their  proceedings  to  y"  Comonalty 


Advertisement. 

Whereas  an  order  was  made  by  ye  Comonalty  of  this 
City  on  ye  Eight  day  of  this  Instant  may  that  no  person 
or  persons  Should  measure  any  vacant  or  Improved 
grounds  within  ye  Limitts  of  this  Citty  of  Albany  untill 
they  Shall  have  produced  their  titles  of  pretence  Wessel 
Ten  Broek  abraham  Cuyler  Harmanus  wendell  Esq’rs 
aldermen,  Evert  wendell  Gysbert  Marcelis  &  Johannis 
hanse  assistants  or  the  major  part  of  them  being  a  Com¬ 
mittee  appointed  to  view  Such  titles  of  pretence  in  pur¬ 
suance  thereof,  these  are  to  give  notice  that  on  fryday 
the  22th  of  this  Instant  may  at  one  a  Clock  in  ye  after¬ 
noon  ye  sd  Committee  Will  meet  in  ye  City  hall  of  ye  sd 
Citty  to  whom  any  person  or  persons  so  Claiming  any 
Right  title  or  pretence  as  above  mentioned  may  adress 


In  Mayor’s  Court,  June  25,  1713. 
The  Court  opened  &  adjourned  till  this  day  forthnight 


287' 


The  City  Records. 

Before  ye  adjourning  of  ye  Court,  Isaac  kip  Constable  of 
this  day,  affronting  this  hon’ble  Court  whereupon  ye 
Court  have  orderd  that  he  Shall  pay  twenty  Shillings  to< 
ye  Sherrif  as  a  fine  for  Such  Contempt 


Att  a  Comon  Councill  held  in  ye  Citty  hall  of  Albany,. 
ye  20th  July  1713 

The  Petition  of  Johan’s  harmense  visher  Relating  five 
foot  of  Ground  Sold  to  him  by  ye  Commonalty  being 
Read 

Resolved,  yt  ye  Same  be  taken  in  Consideration  till  ye 
next  meeting  in  Comon  Council) 

August  5. — It  is  Resolved  that  Advertisements  be  fixt 
on  the  Publick  Places  of  the  City  giving  notice  to  the 
Creditors  of  the  Said  City  that  they  Deliver  in  their 
accounts  to  the  Citty  Treasurer  at  anytime  on  or  before 
the.  12th  Instant:  and  that  the  following  Gentlemen 
Viz1  David  Schuyler  Wessell  Ten  Brook  John  Visker 
Evert  Wendell  Guisbert  Marselis  Johannis  Hanse  are 
appointed  a  Commitee  to  State  the  Said  accounts  and 
likewise  of  the  Creditors  in  the  Citty  Book  and  to  make 
Report  thereoff  to  the  Commonalty  on  the  14th  Instant 
and  it  is  further  Resolvd  that  A  Warrant  be  Issued  to  the 
assessors  of  the  City  to  make  an  Estimate  thereoff  and 
Deliver  in  the  Same  under  their  hands  and  Seals  to  the 
Clerks  Office  on  or  before  the  Eight  Instant 

The  Petition  of  Johannis  harmense  visher  being  taken 
into  Consideration,  and  his  conveyance  from  former 
Comonalty  Covenanted  and  agreed  to  &  with  the  Sd 
Petitioner  that  he  Should  Peaceably  &  quietly  have  hold 
&  Enjoy  ye  five  foot  of  Ground  &  premises  therein  men¬ 
tioned  without  ye  Lawful  Let  Suit  hinderance  interrup¬ 
tion  &  disturbance  of  ye  sd  mayor  Record’r  aldermen  & 
Comonalty  and  their  Successors  or  any  other  person  or 
persons  whatsoever  Lawfully  Claiming  any  Right  title  or 
Intrest  in  or  to  ye  sd  five  foot  of  ground  with  ye  appur¬ 
tenances  or  any  part  thereof  which  the  Comonalty  are 
Resolv’d  to  maintain 


288 


The  City  Records. 


Aug.  18. — Pursuant  to  ye  Resolution  of  ye  Comonalty 
on  ye  5  Instant  the  Comittee  then  appointed  to  view  & 
Examine  the  accounts  due  to  Sundry  persons  from  this 
City  who  have  brought  in  their  Report  this  day  whereby 
It  appears  that  ye  City  is  Indebted  ye  sume  of  £81:  9:lJ 
of'w’h  is  already  Credited  £47:  18  It  is  orderd  that  ye 
rest  be  Credited  in  ye  City  book  by  the  Treasurer 

The  assessors  of  this  City  have  according  to  the  war¬ 
rant  directed  unto  them  delivered  their  Estimates  in  the 
Clarks  office  of  this  City  amounting  in  all  to  £2821 
whereon  it  is  Resolved  to  be  Lay’d  Six  pence  on  ye  £ 
w’h  is  70: 10  : 6  It  is  therefore  orderd- that  ye  D  Clarke 
draw  over  y '  Estimates  &  a  warrant  directed  to  ye  Col¬ 
lector  of  this  City  that  he  Collect  &  pay  ye  sd  Sume  of 
money  unto  Teunis  Brat  City  Treasurer  on  or  before  ye 
first  of  Septemb:  deducting  nine  pence  pr  pound  for 
Collecting  the  Same. 

October  3.  —  It  is  resolved  &  orderd  that  from  &  after 
the  fourth  day  of  this  Instant  October  no  baker  within 
this  City  do  presume  to  Sell  any  white  Loaves  of  Bread 
under  the  weight  of  one  pound  Such  baker  Receiving  no 
more  for  the  Same  then  two  pence  and  the  tenth  part  of 
a  penny  which  is  ye  Seaven  Stivers  it  is  likewise  orderd 
yl  Loaves  made  of  Cornell  Shall  weigh  two  pound  &  a 
half  and  be  Sould  for  four  pence  half  penny  and  no  more 
and  In  proportion  for  a  loave  of  five  pound  nine  pence 
by  order  of  Comon  Councill 


albany  ye:  14th:  October  1713 
This  day  being  appointed  by  the  Charter  of  ye  City  of 
albany  for  the  aldermen  of  ye  sd  City  to  make  a  Returne 
of  the  aldermen  assistants  &  Constables  who  are  Choisen 
to  Serve  for  ye  Ensueing  year  and  find  by  the  written 
votes  taken  in*  each  Respective  ward  that  the  following 
persons  are  Choisen  viz1 

First  Ward. 

Aldermen.  Assistants. 

David  Schuyler  Daniel  Brat 

harmanus  wendell  Evert  wendell 

Tho.  Me  bath  Constable 


289 


The  City  Records. 
Second  Ward. 


Aldermen. 
Abraham  Cuyler 
Johannis  Roseboom 


Assistants. 

Hend’k  Roseboom 
Gysbert  marcelis 


Tilman  van  Schelluyne  Constable 
Third  Ward. 


hend.  hansen 
wessel  Ten  Broek 


Johannis  hansen 
Peter  Ryckman 


Teunis  Eghbertse  Constable 

Teunis  Brat  Chamberlain 
william  Rodgers  high  Constable 


At  a  meeting  of  the  Recorder  aldermen  &  ass’ts  of  the 
City  of  albany  the  8 1th  day  of  octob’r  1713 
Whereas  it  is  thought  very  necessary  and  Convenient 
for  the  Safety  &  preventing  of  takeing  fire  &  other 
unhappy  accidents  w’h  may  arrive  &  attend  in  this  City 
(w’h  God  forbid)  that  a  bellman  be  nominated  appointed 
&  hired  at  the  Charge  of  the  said  City,  to  go  Round  in 
the  Streets  of  the  sd  City  Every  hour  of  the  night  after 
nine  a  Clock,  This  meeting  have  tharefore  thought  fitt  & 
Convenient  to  agree  with  Robert  Barret  to  be  the  bell 
man  of  this  City  for  one  whole  year  Commencing  p'mo 
nov’r  next  and  perform  the  duty  following  that  is  to  Say 
to  go  Round  in  the  Said  City  Every  hour  of  the  night 
from  Ten  a  Clock  at  night  till  four  in  the  morning  and 
tell  the  hour  of  the  night  and  what  wheather  it  is  at  the 
places  following  viz1  first  at  the  main  Guard  as  he  goes 
out  thereof,  then  in  the  midle  of  the  Street,  at  the 
bridge  of  Joh’s  Dwandlaers,  then  at  the  Great  bridge  by 
Coll’o  Schuylers,  then  at  ye  Cross  Street  at  the  house  of 
Mr.  holland,  then  on  the  midle  of  the  Street  before  the 
Street  that  comes  out  by  Joseph  Yetts,  then  at  Robert 
Livingston  Jun’r  Esq’r  mayor  of  this  City,  then  in  the 
midle  of  the  Cross  Street  w’h  fronts  the  paril  Street 
then  in  the  midle  of  the  Street,  over  against  the 
houses  of  Abraham  Cuyler  Esq’r  &  Stephanis  Groes- 


290 


The  City  Records. 

beek  then  in  the  midle  of  the  Street  between  Cap1  Jan 
Janse  Bleeker  &  Jan  Lansing  then  at  the  Corner  of  Mr. 
Job’s  Rosebocm,  then  in  the  Street  between  the  houses 
of  Job’s  Cuyler  Esq'r  Rec'r  &  the  house  of  Joh’s  visher, 
then  in  the  midle  of  the  Street  between  gysbert  marcelis 
&  william  Jacobse,  then  in  the  midle  of  the  Street  at 
Cap1  Joh’s  mingalls  w’h  fronts  the  Lane,  for  w’h  Service 
it  is  Concluded  &  agree  that  the  sd  Robert  Barret  Shall 
have  &  Receive  the  Sume  of  twenty  one  pound  Currant 
money  of  this  Colony  payable  in  august  next,  Sixty 
load  of  wood  &  two  Candles  Every  night 


Albany  the  10th  day  of  novemb’r  1713 
This  day  Robert  Livingston  Jun’r  Esq’r  may’r  of  this 
City  was  Sworn  for  the  due  Execution  of  his  office  & 
toke  ye  oath’s  appointed  by  act  of  parlament 

Hend.  hansen  David  Schuyler  Job’s  Roseboom  Wessel 
Ten  Bioek  Abraham  Cuyler  harmanus  wendell  Esq’rs 
ald’n  toke  the  oaths  appointed  by  act  of  parlament 


Att  a  Comon  Councill  held  in  the  City  hall  of  albany 
the  10th  day  nov’r  1713 

It  is  Resolved  by  the  Comona.lty  that  an  ordinance  be 
publish'd  prohibiting  all  persons  within  this  City  & 
County  to  Sell  or  Expose  to  Sale  any  Liquor  by  Retaile 
under  the  quantity  of  five  gallons  without  being  first 
duely  Licenced  on  penalty  as  the  act  of  gen’l  assembly 
doth  direct 


By  the  mayor  aldermen  and  Comonalty  of  the  City  of 
albany 

An  Ordinance. 

Forasmuch  as  divers  persons  within  this  City  &  County 
do  presume  to  Sell  Strong  Liquor  by  Retaile  without 
being  lycenced  for®  preventing  the  Same,  it  is  hereby 
publish’d  ordaind  &  declard  yl  from  &  after  ye  publica* 


291 


The  City  Records. 

tion  hereof  no  person  or  persons  whatsoever  within  ye 
sd  City  &  County  Shall  by  themselvs  or  any  oy’rs  Sell  or 
Expose  to  Sale  any  Strong  liquor  by  retaile  under  ye 
quantity  of  five  gallons  without  being  duely  Licenced 
on  pain  &  penalty  of  forfieting  for  each  Such  offence 
what  is  mentioned  &  Expressed  in  an  act  of  gen’l  assem¬ 
bly  of  ye  Colony  of  new  york  in  yt  Case  made  &  pro¬ 
vided  given  in  albany  ye  11th  day  of  n’br  in  ye  12th 
year  of  her  maj’s  Reign  annoq’o  Do.  1713 

By  order  of  Com.  Councill 

P  Livingston 


<  292  ) 


FORM  OF  JUDGMENT  RECORD, 

1  (£>  9  8 . 


[At  pages  45,  46,  of  vol.  iii,  may  be  seen  how  disas¬ 
trously  this  judgment  fell  upon  the  household  of  the 
unfortunate  Ahasuerus.  His  pewter  plate,  tongs,  snaffle 
and  gun  were  sold  by  the  sheriff,  producing  £2:  14:7, 
which  was  eleven  pence  short  of  satisfying  the  judgment 
and  expenses !] 


Pleas  held  before  Hend’k  hansen  Esq’r  Mayor  Jan 
Janse  Bleeker  Record’r  Johannes  Schuyler  Hend: 
Van  Renselaer  Jan  Vinghgen  Albert  Rykman  Wes- 
sell  len  Brook  Esq’rs  Aldermen  at  yc  Court  of  May. 
and  Aldermen  held  for  ye  Citty  of  Albany  ye  13th 
day  of  December  1698  in  ye  Tenth  Year  of  yc  Reign 
of  our  Souveraign  Lord  William  ye  3  by  ye  grace  of 
god  of  England  Scotland  France  and  Irland  king 
Defender  of  ye  Faith  &a 

Bee  it  Remembred  yl  on  ye  s'1  day  came  before  us  ye 
sd  mayor  Recorder  and  Aldermen  John  fine  and  brought 
here  into  Court  against  Aasueras  Marselis  his  certain 
bill  with  pledges  to  prosecute  Viz1  John  Doe  and  Rich1 
Roe  wh:  bill  follows  in  these  words  Viz1  Anno :  Regm : 
Reg’es  Will’m  3  Engd  &a:  10  John  fine  of  ye  Citty  of 
Albany  Cooper  Complains  against  Ahasroerus  marselis 
of  ye  sd  Citty  shoemaker  of  a  Plea  of  tresspasse  upon 
ye  Case,  and  thereupon  ye  sd  John  fyne  saith  yl  whereas 
ye  18th  day  of  Novembr:  1698  there  being  a  Parcell  of 
firewood  belonging  to  him  John  fyne  Lyeing  at  ye  River 


Ancient  Judgment  Record.  293 

Side  at  Albany  aforesaid  which  said  Parsell  he  did  Per¬ 
ceive  dayly  to  decrease  &  diminish  and  yl  Part  thereof 
must  be  stole  in  Reguard  he  did  not  burn  nor  Consume 
ye  same  and  haveing  Suspicion  yl  ye  said  Ahasuerus 
Marselus  was  ye  Person  yl  did  take  y'J  Same  away  he  ye 
said  John  fine  did  on  ye  day  of  this  Instant  Novembr: 
together  with  Serg'  kinard  Enter  into  ye  house  of  ye  s‘l 
Ahasuerus  where  he  founde  a  good  fire  made  of  his  ye  sd 
John  fines  wood  which  he  then  and  there  did  Challenge 
and  Carry  away  and  to  ye  mayor  of  this  Citty  did  Show 
and  Compare  with  his  wood,  by  which  it  did  Manifestly 
appear  to  be  taken  from  his  said  Pile  as  if  one  tally 
were  struck  from  anoy’r  &  where  as  ye  s  ahasuerus  his 
wife  did  call  him  ve  sd  John  fine  a  Rogue  &  Severall  other 
opprobrious  words  when  he  went  with  ye  sd  Kinard  to 
see  if  his  wood  had  not  been  purloind  &  Embazld  by  her 
husband  as  aforesaid  whereupon  he  says  yl  he  is  worse 
and  hath  dammage  to  ye  value  of  Tenn  pounds  and  there 
of  Bringeth  Sute  &  ye  sd  ahasuerus  marseles  in  his  owne 
Proper  person  cometh  and  defendeth  ye  force  and  Injurij 
when  &  for  his  Plea  Saith  yl  he  is  not  guiltij  in  manner 
&  form  as  ye  PI:  declares  against  him  neither  did  he  ever 
take  anij  of  ye  PI:  wmods  for  he  was  from  home  when  ye 
thing  should  have  happend  &  further  says  yl  y  PI :  hath 
with  force  &  violence  taken  wood  from  his  fire  &  thereof 
putts  himself  upon  ye  Countreij  &  ye  PI:  in  like  manner 
whereupon  Command  is  [given]  to  ye  Sherriffe  yl  he 
cause  to  come  &a:  Twelve  good  men  &a:  by  whom  &a: 
and  who  as  well  &a:  to  Recognize  &a:  and  afterwards 
come  as  well  ye  sd  John  fine  as  ye  sd  ahasuerus  marselles 
and  ye  Sherriffe  Returned  ye  P’cept  to  him  directed  in 
all  things  served  together  vv’th  a  Pannell  of  ye  names  of 
ye  Jurors  y“  same  daij  in  which  Pennell  are  named 
Luykas  gerritse  Elbert  gerritse  Job’s  Luykase  Daniel 
Bratt  fredrick  harmese  JJeter  mingael  william  hogen 
Phillip  Schuyler  Warner  Uarstence  will:  gysbertse  will: 
van  Ale  &  John  Carr  who  being  Elected  Tryed  and 
Sworne  to  Speake  ye  truth  in  ye  premises  &  haveing 
given  ye  Case  in  Charge  to  ye  Jurij  &  after  they  had 


294  Ancient  Judgment  Record. 

heard  ye  Evidences  of  Serg1  kinnar  Dirk  vandheyde  &a: 
they  y  sd  Jurors  after  Somme  Consideration  thereof  had 
came  to  yeBarr  and  Deliverd  in  there  V’dict  and  doe 
find  for  ye  Plaintiefe  Cost  of  Court  &  Six  pence  damage 
It  is  therefore  Considerd  by  ye  Court  yl  ye  Defi  Ahusu- 
erres  Marsellis  doe  Paij  unto  John  fine  ye  Plaintiffe  ye 
Somme  of  six  pence  &  yl  he  paij  ye  Somme  of  Two  & 
twenty  s  &  6  pence  Curant  moneij  to  ye  PI  for  his  Costs 
&  Charges  of  Proscution  at  y'1  Discretion  of  ye  sd  Court 
adjudged  It  is  further  Considerd  yl  ye  sd  John  fine  have 
Execution  against  ye  sd  Ahasuerus  Marselles  for  his 
damage  &  costs  aforesaid  &  ye  s 1  ahesueris  is  in  mercij 


THE  AUNT  SCHUYLER  HOUSE. 


[The  following  paper  was  communicated  to  the  New 
York  Courier  and  Enquirer  by  J.  H.  Bogart,  Esq.,  in  the 
early  part  of  the  year  1855.] 

Whoever  has  not  read  that  exceedingly  agreeable  book, 
written  by  Mrs.  Grant,  which,  under  the  title  of  the 
Memoirs  of  an  American  Lady,  is  in  truth  the  best  sketch 
of  the  society  of  New  York,  and  its  local  history  for  the 
stirring  period  between  the  French  and  the  Revolutionary 
War;  whoever  has  not  read  this  delightful  book  will  be 
ever  grateful  to  your  correspondent,  if  through  his  sug- 
gestion  that  pleasure  become  theirs;  and  whoever  has, 
and  is  familiar  with  its  narrative,  its  true  record  so 
pleasantly  told  that  the  grave  history  becomes  a  winning 
story,  will  not  deem  the  narrative  of  a  visit  to  the  locali¬ 
ties  uninteresting. 

There  are  groups  of  houses,  villas,  manufactories, 
country  seats,  cottages,  and  mansions,  canal,  road,  and 
railway,  so  thronged  into  contiguity  near  the  scenes  which 
Mrs.  Grant  delineates,  that  it  is  difficult  to  declare  them 
in  city  or  country.  Between  the  two  cities,  the  villages 
and  hamlets  of  Watervliet,  and  West  Troy,  and  Washing¬ 
ton,  and  Gibbonsville,  and  Port  Schuyler,  have  at  last 
all  combined  into  the  energetic  and  prosperous  West 
Troy,  numbering  beyond  its  ten  thousand,  and  feeling 
already  all  proper  independency  of  the  larger  cities,  its 
neighbors.  River,  canal,  road,  and  railway,  furnish  the 
means  of  transit,  and  by  all,  a  crowd  are  traversing  the 
few  miles  of  distance  that  separate  Troy  and  Albany. 
The  old  coach  rolls  along  the  hard  McAdam  highway,  its 
driver  wondering  that  the  world  has  deserted  him;  the 
train  dashes  on  in  its  twelve  minute  time,  its  conductor 
wondering  “who  in  the  world”  would  seek  other  convey¬ 
ance  than  his. 

I  was  indebted  to  the  courtesy  of  the  Hon.  Mr.  Crosby,. 

[Annals,  «*.]  26 


296 


The  Aunt  Schuyler  House. 

of  the  Senate,  for  the  opportunity  of  visiting  the  scenes 
which  so  many  of  the  most  impressive  occurrences  of  the 
times  before  the  Revolution  had  made  memorable.  The 
alliance  of  Mr.  Crosby  with  the  family  of  General  John 
Schuyler,  made  his  companionship  the  means  of  seeing 
these  localities  with  the  best  means  of  accuracy. 

Aunt  Schuyler  was  the  wife  and  widow  of  Philip 
Schuyler,  a  gentleman  of  distinction  and  high  respecta¬ 
bility  in  the  colony,  who  resided  at  a  house  immediately 
on  the  western  side  of  the  road  which  ran  directly  on  the 
bank  of  the  Hudson.  His  home  during  his  life,  and  in 
equal  elegance  during  much  of  the  remaining  years  of 
Madame  Schuyler’s  life,  was  the  centre  of  the  best  society 
that  Albany  could  furnish.  The  best  people  that  England 
placed  in  her  army  were  found  there.  It  was  the  abode 
of  a  taste  and  refinement  not  universal  in  that  day,  and 
the  British  officer  found,  in  the  parlor  of  Madame,  the 
same  grace  of  manner,  and  dignity,  and  appreciation  of 
cultivation,  which  reminded  him  of  the  polished  society 
he  had  left  beyond  the  sea.  She  possessed  the  great  good 
sense  and  thorough  manner  which  gave  to  her  home,  and 
the  hospitality  ever  found  there,  a  character  which 
regulated  the  society  of  which  it  was  the  centre.  That 
splendid  army  which  made  its  fatal  campaign  under  Lord 
Howe,  furnished  many  guests  to  her  table,  and  the  young 
nobleman  whose  death  was  the  great  disaster  of  the  war, 
had  his  journey  northward  rendered  agreeable  by  the  good 
offices  of  Madame.  In  this  life  of  useful  and  elegant 
courtesies,  Madame  Schuyler  found  the  years  of  her  resi¬ 
dence  on  the  river  bank  pass  away. 

The  father  of  Mr.  Philip  Schuyler  was  a  man  of  com¬ 
manding  influence.  Possessing  great  control  over  the 
Indians  in  his  vicinity  and  winning  their  confidence,  he 
visited  the  home  government — as  England  then  was — • 
taking  with  him  a  delegation  of  the  chiefs — rare  visitors 
then  to  the  streets  of  London.  The  court  of  Queen  Anne 
received  the  group  of  red  men  with  great  favor,  and  as  a 
testimonial  of'  the  royal  approbation  of  the  embassy,  the 
queen  directed  MrrSchuyler’s  portrait  to  be  painted. 


297 


The  Aunt  Schuyler  House. 

Our  first  visit  was  to  the  residence  of  one  of  his  de¬ 
scendants,  where  with  a  good  taste  and  care  unusual  in 
this  country,  this  historic  picture  is  faithfully  preserved. 
A  noble  painting  it  is.  Mr.  Schuyler  was  of  command¬ 
ing  presence — tall,  and  with  features  that  indicate  the 
man  of  resolution  and  purpose.  The  dress  is  a  gay 
ornamental  full  costume — in  a  strength  of  coloring  that 
is  yet  unbroken.  It  has  all  the  appointments  of  the 
elegant  man  of  those  days — is  correct  in  drawing,  and 
justifies  the  belief  that  it  was  the  work  of  one  of  eminence. 
The  approbation  of  the  queen  was  well  bestowed.  It 
has  enabled  us  to  know  the  lineaments  of  one  of  that  class 
of  men  so  worthily  distinguished  in  the  colonial  days 
and  whose  vigor  of  character  prepared  the  way  for  the 
bolder  act  of  a  subsequent  period.  In  this  house  I  saw 
also  an  old  oak  arm  chair,  adorned  with  profusion  of 
moulding  and  carving,  and  cherished  as  a  relic  of  Madame 
Schuyler’s  furniture,  and  in  itself,  by  its  style,  a  truthful 
evidence  of  the  elegance  by  which — in  solid  and  'sub¬ 
stantial  arrangement  —  her  house  must  have  been  fur¬ 
nished. 

From  this  house  (whose  owner,  I  take  pleasure  to  say 
in  parting  from  him,  is  honored  and  cherished  by  all  who 
know  him)  I  visited  the  residence  of  Aunt  Schuyler. 
This  is  situate  immediately  on  the  river — a  small  area  only 
between  it  and  the  bank  of  the  stream — in  the  last  cen¬ 
tury  the  great  north  road,  the  highway  of  the  pioneer, 
the  settler,  the  trader,  of  brave  armies,  of  troop  and  com¬ 
mander,  the  path  over  which  the  brilliant  and  gallant 
young  Howe  led  his  force  to  the  fight  of  Lake  George,  and 
over  which,  the  captive  Burgoyne  rode  by  the  side  of  his 
conqueror.  The  house  which  was  the  scene  of  the  best 
hospitalities  that  the  colony  gave,  out  of  the  city  of  New 
York,  was  burnt  in  1763,  but  not  so  thoroughly  but  that 
a  part  of  the  old  wall  is  left,  and  it  was  curious  to-day  to 
trace  the  disordered  line  where  the  later  masonry  had 
been  joined  to  the  more  ancient  structure,  whose  unyield¬ 
ing  mortar  seemed  to  have  acquired  the  tenacity  of  stone 
itself.  The  present  edifice  is  old — for  America,  it  has 


298 


The  Aunt  Schuyler  House.  • 

a  hall  of  fine  width,  rooms  of  good  dimensions,  windows 
of  admirable  magnitude.  How  curious  it  seemed  to  find, 
in  this  day,  the  quaint  old  front  door,  divided  into  an 
upper  and  lower  door;  the  singularly  shaped  iron  knocker, 
fulfilling  its  own  duty  and  that  of  the  handle  of  the  door. 
To  lean  over  this  lower  half  seemed  like  being  brought 
back  to  the  days  when  Albany  contained  many  of  its  men, 
as  of  its  customs,  of  other  days. 

The  kitchen  part  of  the  house  had  been  at  the  period 
when  Mrs.  Grant  knew  it,  for  a  time,  the  residence  of 
her  father. 

She  was  Miss  McVickar,  the  daughter  of  an  officer  in 
the  British  service,  and  when  she  was  a  bright,  romantic, 
-enthusiastic  little  creature,  idolizing  Aunt  Schuyler,  and 
creating  all  bright  fancies  for  herself,  around  the  old  house 
on  the  island,  and  by  her  side,  little  dreaming  that  her 
literary  reputation  should  be  such,  and  her  caste  of  society 
such,  that  Sir  Walter  declared  “the  circle  at  Mrs.  Grant’s 
is  positively  cerulean.” 

I  found  at  the  house  a  lady,  wdiom  Heaven  has  so 
blessed  as  to  give  extreme  old  age,  in  possession  of  un¬ 
dimmed  good  sense,  intelligence,  and  courtesy;  and  though 
ninety-one  years  have  passed  over  her,  of  memory  so 
correct  and  unbroken  as  to  make  participation  in  her 
society  a  most  agreeable  experience.  I  would  be  glad  to 
say  more,  if  it  were  not  infringing  on  a  just  rule.  This 
lady,  who  has  dwelt  here  for  almost  all  of  a  life  so  long, 
retains  a  recollection  of  having  once  seen  Aunt  Schuyler, 
while  in  Albany,  and  her  description  of  her  coincides 
fully  with  that  given  by  Mrs,  Grant.  She  was  of  immense 
size,  so  much  so  that  it  became  wearisome  to  herself  to 
move  about.  When  her  house  (the  predecessor  of  this 
.one)  was  burned,  she  was  carried  in  her  arm  chair  to  the 
river’s  edge,  and  could  only  sit  patiently  and  see  her  house 
in  destruction.  After  this  she  lived  for  a  number  of  years 
in  Albany,  occupying  a  house  on  the  south  side  of  State 
street  a  little  above  Pearl  street  ;  but  before  her  death 
she  again  removed  to  the  house — the  scene  of  to-dav’s 
visit.  It  was  of  intense  interest  to  be  allowed  to  con- 


299 


The  Aunt  Schuyler  House. 

verse  with  one,  in  the  enjoyment  of  life  and  intellect, 
who  could  bear  witness  to  the  accuracy  of  Mrs.  Grant’s 
delightful  narrative. 

When  Burgoyne  and  Gates  were  in  the  conflict  of 
Saratoga,  the  gentleman  who  resided  at  this  house,  heard, 
for  it  was  a  quiet  summer  afternoon,  the  far-off  war  of 
the  cannonade,  and  became -so  intensely  excited  for^the 
safety  of  his  two  sons  who  were  with  the  American 
troops,  that  he  expressed  (as  we  should  call  it)  his 
negro  man  to  gather  tidings.  Off  dashed  the  faithful  man, 
and  by  hard  ridingsreached  the  scene.  Tying  his  horse 
to  a  rail  he  sought  his  master’s  boys;  but  a  shot  crashed 
among  the  rail,  and  off  ran  his  pacific  animal,  not  being 
of  the  w^ar-horse  race.  Knowing  that  he  could  not  face 
Mr.  Schuyler,  without  bringing  the  information  desired, 
he  chased  away  after  his  scared  steed,  and  securing  him, 
after  his  young  master.  He  found  him  well  and  un¬ 
harmed  among  his  fellow  soldiers,  and  young  Schuyler 
gave  him  his  jack-knife  to  bear  home  to  his  father,  as  an 
evidence  that  his  mission  had  been  faithfully  accomplished. 

Of  such  legends,  this  old  house  is  replete.  They  tell, 
with  pleasure,  of  the  rare  delight  that  Mrs.  Grant’s 
father  manifested  when,  under  the  specific  directions, 
even  to  the  actual  load  of  the  gun,  of  Mr.  Schuyler,  he 
secured  a  splendid  deer  as  the  trophy  of  his  first  wood¬ 
craft,  and  how  proud  he  felt  as  the  animal  was  brought 
in,  his  great  size  making  his  weight  a  heavy  burden  for 
the  horse. 

From  the  conversation  about  the  incidents  of  the  war, 
of  the  alarms  by  the  threatened  attack  of  Indians,  moved 
to  unrelenting  warfare  against  the  frontier  by  the  John¬ 
sons  and  by  Brandt,  from  legends  of  the  past,  told  not  as 
of  history,  but  as  of  personal  participation,  I  turned 
reluctantly,  to  finish  this  interesting  visit  by  an  ex¬ 
amination  of  the  old  grave-yard,  the  family  burial  place 
of  this  ancient  name. 

The  husband  of  Aunt  Schuyler  has  the  most  conspicuous 
grave.  There  is  a  tablet  raised  on  pillars  of  carved  free¬ 
stone,  and  on  it  this  inscription: 


300 


The  Aunt  Schuyler  House . 


In  memory  of 
Col.  Philip  Schuyler. 

A  gentleman  who  was  improved 
In  several  public  employments 
In  which  he  acted  with  integrity. 

He  was  singularly  honored. 

A  sincere  friend  and  kind  master, 

A  most  tender  husband, 

He  lived  respected,  and  died  greatly  lamented. 

Feb.  16,  1758. 

And  where  rests  Madame  Schuyler,  to  whom  one  of 
the  most  agreeable  of  all  the  feminine  writers  of  the  Old 
World  gave  the  high  honor  of  selecting  her  life  and  por¬ 
traiture  as  that  of  the  American  Lady  ?  By  her  husband ’s 
side,  in  a  namelesss  grave,  without  tablet  or  monument, 
the  very  earth  not  even  giving  its  swelling  token  of  a 
burial  beneath,  rests  this  lady  without  the  record  of  whose 
generous  and  elegant  hospitality,  one  of  the  most  interest¬ 
ing  of  the  pages  of  New  York  history  could  not  be  written. 

Aunt  Schuyler  died  amidst  the  opening  struggles  of  the 
Revolution.  From  a  thousand  old  associations,  the  in¬ 
fluence  of  which  it  was  most  natural  she  should  feel, 
her  sympathies  were  with  the  royals,  though  her  wise 
guidance  of  her  conduct  kept  her  old  age  from  partizan- 
ship.  Yet  those  were  bitter  days — when  family  ties 
snapped  suddenly  before  the  conflict  of  opinion,  and  it 
may  well  be,  that  even  her  memory  waned  amidst  the 
wild  and  earnest  struggles  which  convulsed  society — and 
thus,  kindred  and  friend  thought  it  enough  that  her  last 
home  was  made,  where  her  heart  most  desired  it,  by  her 
husband’s  side.  There  are  those  left  of  her  lineage  who 
will  not  long  allow  this  unmarked  grave. 

The  river  has  changed  since  the  days  of  Mrs.  Grant’s 
delineation.  Then  it  was  a  free  and  beautiful  stream — 
the  channel  close  by  the  west  shore,  so  that  the  white 
sail  reflected  the  sun’s  gleams  upon  Aunt  Schuyler’s 
house,  There  are  now  useful  but  ugly  dykes,  and  the 
beautiful  island,  in  the  description  of  which  the  historian 
revels,  is  grown  larger — I  fear  not  more  beautiful.  The 
glen  of  Wynant's  kill,  so  romantic  and  so  lovely  in  her 


801 


The  Aunt  Schuyler  House. 

day,  is  a  busy  manufactory,  where  the  glare  of  the  furnace 
light  is  cast  upon  the  foliage,  or  illuminates  the  winter 
night.  The  ice  breaks  up  in  no  great  fields  as  her  vivid 
description  pictures,  but  in  less  grandeur,  but  more 
safety,  of  smaller  fragments — yet  there  is  the  old  wall  of 
the  old  house,  as  it  was  when  Howe  was  there — and  as 
it  was  when  the  cousin  Philip — the  conqueror  of  Burgoyne 
was  visitor  there — as  it  was  when  royal  soldier  met  loyal 
welcome.  All  is  not  changed:  there  is  something  of  the 
past  to  speak  to  the  present. 

The  superb  diamond  ring  that  Queen  Anne  gave  to  the 
Schuyler  that  brought  to  her  court  the  painted  and  proud 
Indian,  has  disappeared — gone  away  with  the  roving 
fortunes  of  a  branch  of  the  family.  The  estate  is  held 
yet,  as  it  was  in  the  last  century,  by  those  who  bear  the 
name  of  the  family — and  if  I  might  speak  of  the  circum¬ 
stances  of  the  hospitality  of  my  entertainer,  I  might 
associate  with  the  interesting  legends  of  other  days,  the 
gentler  loveliness  of  the  life  before  us.  Not  much  in 
America  is  historic.  We  remove,  as  if  posterity  would 
not  visit  our  recklessness  with  bitter  censure,  the  monu¬ 
ment  of  the  past  in  our  story.  It  is  intensely  gratifying 
to  find,  as  the  present  visit  enabled  me,  these  memories 
of  an  honorable  and  useful  career  still  cherished  by  those 
whose  kindred  were  the  actors  in  the  scene.  The  old 
Schuyler  House  must,  while  it  remains,  be  one  of  the  most 
interesting  of  our  localities,  and  if  this  sketch  win  de- 
lineation  of  it,  from  better  limners  of  the  scene,  I  shall 
be  repaid. 


(  302  ) 


ALBANY  PLUMS. 


At  a  late  meeting  of  the  New  York  State  Agricultural 
Society,  Mr.  Elisha  Dorr,  of  Albany,  exhibited  a  col¬ 
lection  of  plums  which  attracted  great  attention,  and 
received  various  premiums.  Among  them  were  several 
valuable  kinds  not  generally  known,  including  some 
seedlings  raised  by  Mr.  Dorr.  In  the  Country  Gentleman 
Mr.  Dorr  has  given  a  history  and  description  of  these 
plums,  which  we  copy.  The  variety  called  Schuyler 
Gage  is  one  on  which  some  mystery  has  heretofore  rested. 
The  same  name  has  been  applied  to  another  variety — a 
plum  believed  by  Downing  and  others  to  be  identical 
with  the  Green  Gage.  'The  late  Isaac  Denniston,  of 
Albany,  called  it  the  Schuyler  Gage,  because  he  procured 
the  tree  which  bore  it  from  the  grounds  of  Gen.  Philip 
Schulyer.  The  tree  might  have  been  a  seedling  of  the 
Green  Gage.  It  was  transferred  to  Mr.  Denniston’s 
garden  about  the  beginning  of  the  present  century,  and 
became  the  parent  of  many  fine  varieties  now  named  in 
catalogues,  and  in  several  instances  reproduced  its  own 
fruit  with  exact  similarity.  Under  the  name  of  Schuyler 
Gage  the  variety  produced  by  this  tree  has  been  exten¬ 
sively  disseminated. 

The  variety  called  Schuyler  Gage  by  Mr.  Dorr,  and 
well  described  by  him,  is  quite  different  from  that  just 
spoken  of.  It  is  of  great  value  on  account  of  its  excellent 
flavor  and  extraordinary  lateness.  We  have  plucked  it, 
in  high  perfection,  from  the  original  tree,  in  the  month 
of  November,  when  the  ground  was  covered  with  snow. 
The  tree  was  much  decayed  when  we  first  saw  it,  and  is 
now  dead.  Mr.  Dorr,  fortunately,  has  secured  the  variety 
by  inoculating  it  on  other  stocks.  We  should  have  pre¬ 
ferred  a  name  that  would  have  prevented  any  confusion 
in  regard  to  its  identity,  and  would  suggest  whether  the 


303 


Albany  Plums. 

word  late  might  not  be  added  with  advantage,  and  the 
name  made  Schuyler’s  Late  Gage. 

Mr.  Dorr’s  Wax  Plum  we  saw  at  the  exhibition  of  the 
New  York  State  Agricultural  Society,  in  October  last, 
and  thought  it  the  most  beautiful  plum  we  had  ever  seen. 
The  quality,  also,  was  very  fine. 

[The  foregoing  is  copied  from  a  newspaper  cutting, 
which  can  not  now  be  identified.  What  follows  appears 
to  be  Mr.  Dorr’s  account  of  the  plums.] 

Madison  Plum. — This  fine  seedling,  so  highly  recom¬ 
mended  by  the  Fruit  Congress  which  met  at  Philadelphia 
I  think  in  1849,  was  raised  by  that  celebrated  .plum 
grower,  the  late  Isaac  Denniston,  of  Alban}r.  It  came 
into  bearing  in  1848,  and  on  the  16th  of  October,  1849, 
I  saw  and  eat  its  fruit,  in  company  with  Mr.  Sanford 
Howard,  who  then  remarked  to  me  that  it  was  a  plum, 
which,  if  grown  for  market,  would  pay  enormously, 
being  so  late  and  beautiful  a  variety.  I  accordingly  pro¬ 
cured  scions  the  following  spring — very  fortunately  too — 
as  the  succeeding  summer  the  tree,  from  an  unknown 
cause,  died.  Its  size  rather  above  medium;  color,  rich 
yellow  with  carmine  cheek;  bloom,  whitish ;  freestone; 
flavor,  very  rich,  sugary,  sprightly  and  very  fine.  Season, 
October.  A  fine  grower. 

Schuyler  Gage. — This  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  and 
desirable  of  plums,  on  account  of  its  lateness — being 
eaten  by  me  the  past  season  when  the  snow  covered  the 
ground.  It  never  suffers  from  the  attacks  of  the  curculio, 
like  most  other  varieties,  which  fact  immeasurably  en¬ 
hances  its  value  with  me,  being  always  sure  of  a  crop. 
It  was  raised  by  Gen.  Schuyler,  of  Revolutionary 
memory,  from  the  Green  Gage,  and  was  esteemed  by 
him  so  great  an  acquisition  that  he  never  disseminated 
it;  but  gave  to  his  rival  fruitgrower,  Isaac  Denniston, 
buds  of  the  Green  Gage  instead.  Mr.  Denniston  always 
believed  it  the  Green  Gage,  saying  he  obtained  buds  of 
Gen.  Schuyler  himself,  which,  when  fruited,  v,as  none 
other  than  the  Green  Gage.  So  choice  was  this  variety 
with  the  General,  that  none  but  his  intimate  friends  were 


304 


Albany  Plums. 

at  his  table  served  with  them,  and  when  solicited  by  them 
for  scions,  some  other  variety  was  substituted.  Mr. 
Denniston  frequently  alluded  to  the  strife  which  prevailed 
in  the  days  of  Gen.  S.,  to  obtain  and  exclusively  possess 
varieties  of  choice  fruit,  and  the  amusing  tricks  resorted 
to  when  applied  to  for  them — he  having  been  for  years 
duped  by  them. 

After  the  death  of  Gen.  S.,  the  late  John  Bryan  pur¬ 
chased  the  grounds,  and  finding  an  aged  tree  of  this 
variety,  grafted  from  it.  Soon  after  the  death  of  Mr. 
Bryan,  the  grounds  came  into  the  possession  of  Mr.  E. 
C.  M’Intosh,  to  whom  we  are  indebted  for  making  known 
this  long  heard  of  variety.  In  the  fall  of  1847  or  1848, 
Mr.  M’Intosh  brought  to  Mr.  Howard  and  myself,  some' 
plums  to  identify.  Being  unknown  to  us,  we  visited  Mr. 
Denniston  to  have  them  named,  but  without  avail.  At 
the  request  of  Mr.  M’Intosh  we  soon  after  visited  his 
grounds  to  learn  more  of  this  variety,  and  there  learned 
from  a  daughter  of  the  late  John  Bryan,  its  name  and 
history.  It  was  raised  about  1800  (as  stated  above),  from 
the  Green  Gage.  During  the  life  time  of  her  father,  he 
never  disseminated  it,  nor  would  he  permit  it  to  be  done. 
We  thus  see  why  this  choice  fruit  never  was  made  known 
while  possessed  by  two  such  peculiar  men — remaining  in 
their  possession  full  half  a  century ;  and  why  all  porno- 
logists  have  erred  in  calling  it  a  synonym  of  the  Green 
Gage.  The  fruit  is  medium  size,  long  oval ;  skin  golden 
yellow,  dotted  and  washed  wTith  carmine;  bloom  white; 
stem  1^  inches  long.  Flesh  yellowish,  quite  juicy,  high 
flavored,  luscious,  sprightly,  fine.  Stone,  free.  Season 
from  15th  Oct.  to  15th  Nov.  An  erect  grower. 

The  Wax  Plum  is  a  new  seedling  raised  by  me,  and 
shown  at  tire  State  Fair  in  New  York.  It  is  a  quite  late 
variety,  ripening  during  the  month  of  Oct.,  when  light 
colored  plums  are  gone.  Its  parents  I  believe  to  have 
been  Bleecker’s  Yellow  and  Denniston’s  Superb,  favoring 
more  in  its  outline  and  stem,  the  Bleecker  th&n  the 
Superb,  and  in  the  growth  and  productiveness  of  the 
tree.  Fruit  large  size,  slight  oval,  stem  quite  2  inches 


805 


Albany  Plums. 

long  and  hairy ;  color  the  richest  yellow,  mostly  covered 
with  carmine;  bloom  lilac;  flesh  greenyellow,  juicy, 
firm,  saccharine,  with  a  sprightly,  very  pleasant  flavor. 
Free  stone.  Season  October. 

Howard's  Favorite ,  is  another  seedling  raised  by  me, 
and  named  after  Sanford  Howard,  from  the  preference 
shown  by  him  for  it,  whenever  he  visited  my  grounds. 
[This  preference  was  given  not  wholly  on  account  of  the 
flavor  of  the  fruit,  but  in  a  considerable  degree  for  its 
beauty  and  prolific  character.  S.  H.]  What  either  of  its 
parents  were,  I  am  unable  to  tell.  It  is  a  profuse  bearer, 
yielding  me,  this  dry  season,  2J  barrels  of  fruit.  It 
possesses  a  peculiarity  which  greatly  enhances  its  value 
for  my  bleak  grounds,  that  of  resisting  the  gales  of 
summer.  Indeeed  so  great  is  its  tenacity,  that  it  is  im¬ 
possible  to  knock  them  off  without  breaking  the  fruit 
spurs.  It  is  a  continuous  ripener  for  six  weeks.  A  very 
handsome  grower,  forming  a  fine  rounded  head.  Leaves 
deep  green,  very  large  and  crumply.  Quite  ornamental. 
Fruit,  large  sized,  jug  shaped;  stem,  1J  inches  long, 
inserted  in  a  rim  like  the  egg  plum ;  color  rich  yellow, 
dotted  and  shaded  with  carmine;  bloom  lilac;  skin  thick; 
flesh  rather  coarse,  but  very  sugary,  rich  and  delicious, 
clinging  somewhat  to  the  stone.  Season  Sept. 

Henry  Clay — another  seedling  raised  by  me,  and  bore 
fruit  first  in  1852.  It  was  raised  from  pits  of  Howard’s 
Favorite.  Of  large  size,  considerably  more  so  than  its 
parent,  being  broader  and  heavier.  Color  bright  yellow 
on  sunny  side,  with  carmine  cheek.  Stem  quite  long, 
near  2  inches  in  length,  slightly  sunken;  bloom  whitish; 
skin  tough;  flesh  yellow,  rich,  sugary,  delicious.  A 
noble  plum,  both  in  size,  quality  and  beauty.  Half 
cling  and  half  free,  like  its  great  namesake.  It  was 
named  by  Dr.  Warder,  of  Cincinnati — he  deeming  it 
worthy  of  so  honorable  a  name.  Season  1st  Sept. 

The  five  preceding  are  not  excelled  for  productiveness . 
For  beauty  I  know  of  none  that  can  compare  with  them. 
For  quality ,  they  are  not  excelled  by  any,  and  for  late¬ 
ness,  where  can  five  varieties  be  found  that  will  furnish 
fruit  for  a  period  of  2J  months? 


306 


Albany  Plums. 


it  lr,ed  from  the  Miraw^- 

-this  being  its  chief  qu^lUv  Tl  §h'y  f°r  PreservinS 
leaves  small  and  pointed  An  !l  a  la“Pant  grower— 
quite  small  0vaF  ?  a^un^ant  bearer.  Fruit 

yellow,  spotted  with  browir^e"'  /tout:  co,or  greenish 
acid.  Season  lalt  of  September"  ^  Md  SmaIIi  fla™ 


(  307  ) 


JOHN  C.  SPENCER. 

From  the  Albany  Atlas. 


Mr.  Spencer,  was  born  in  Hudson,  Columbia  county, 
n  this  state,  in  1787,  and,  entering  public  life  in  his 
ixtreme  youth,  and  preserving  an  active  connection  with 
public  affairs  till  his  death,  his  career  may  be  said  to 
lave  been  almost  coincident  with  that  of  the  state  itself. 

He  was  the  son  of  Ambrose  Spencer,  a  man  whose 
ron  will  and  marked  individuality  of  character  he  in- 
lerited,  with  its  power  and  its  imperfections.  His 
ither  was  on  the  bench  of  the  supreme  court  in  1807-8, 
'hen  Mr.  Spencer  was  appointed  by  Gov.  Tompkins 
is  private  secretary;  and  he  was  selected,  in  the  latter 
sar,  to  carry  to  Washington  the  electoral  vote  of  the 
ate  just  cast  for  Madison  for  president. 

In  1811,  he  was  appointed  master  in  chancery  for 
itario  Co.  In  1814,  he  was  appointed  postmaster  of 
inandaigua.  In  1815,  he  was  appointed  by  Gov.  Tomp- 
ns  district  attorney  for  the  five  western  counties  of 
e  state. 

During  the  war  with  Great  Britain  he  was  active  and 
duential  in  the  support  of  the  administration  of  Tomp- 
is;  and  his  father,  Judge  Ambrose  Spencer,  broke 
th  his  political  friends,  the  federalists,  rather  than; 
erate  their  unpatriotic  course  of  resistance  and  ob- 
tl  uction.  A  son,  the  elder  brother  of  John  C.,  Ambrose 
Jencer,  Jr.,  fell  at  Lundy’s  Lane,  while  fighting  under 
tlDwn  and  Scott;  and  another  brother,  Capt.  Wm.  A. 
mcer,  entered  the  navy,  and  died  a  year  ago  in  New 
rk.  In  the  year  1817-19,  he  was  a  member  of  con- 
ss ;  and  in  the  latter  year,  while  still  in  the  house  of 
resentatives,  received  the  support  of  the  Clintonian 
libers  of  the  state  legislature  for  the  post  of  U.  S. 
ator.  The  nomination  was  the  occasion  of  the  rup- 
Annals ,  vi.]  27 


303 


John  C.  Spencer. 

ture  of  the  relations  between  the  Clintc-nians,  and  the 
Democrats  (called  in  the  phrase  of  the  day  Bucktails), 
who  had  preferred  Col.  Young  for  the  office.  The  latter 
received  57  votes  to  64  for  Mr.  Spencer,  the  remaining 
votes  being  cast  for  Rufus  King. 

In  1819,  while  still  in  congress,  he  was  elected  tc 
the  assembly,  and  the  next  year  was  speaker  of  thal 
body.  He  was  then  the  champion  and  the  leader  of  the 
party  of  De  Witt  Clinton,  which  was  then  in  close 
alliance  with  the  Federal  party.  His  speakership  closed 
in  a  storm,  and  by  a  refusal  of  many  of  his  opponents 
to  concur  in  the  customary  vote  of  thanks.  -He  was 
state  senator  in  1825,  ’6,  ’7  and  ’8. 

The  death  of  Gov.  Clinton  broke  up  the  personal  part) 
that  rallied  around  him  and  of  which  Mr.  Spencer  was 
the  moving  spirit;  but  before  it  occurred  both  thes( 
distinguished  names  were  enlisted  to  the  support  o 
Andrew  Jackson  for  the  presidency,  both  again  separat 
ing  from  their  friends,  in  order  to  assume  this  vantagf 
ground  of  strength  and  popularity.  Before  the  death  ol 
Clinton,  he  appointed  Mr.  Spencer  to  a  work  with  whicl 
his  reputation  will  doubtless  long  be  identified,  a  tasfc 
eminently  congenial  to  his  habits  of  thought,  his  extensive 
knowledge  of  law,  and  his  power  of  analysis — the  re¬ 
vision  of  the  statutes  of  the  state. 

The  commission  was  composed  of  John  C.  Duer,  Benj 
F.  Butler  and  Henry  Wheaton.  The  appointment  of  the 
latter  by  President  Adams  to  the  diplomatic  post  he 
afterwards  filled  with  so  much  reputation,  left  a  vacancy 
to  which  Mr.  Spencer  was  appointed.  It  was  a  work  oJ 
great  labor,  and  comparing  it  with  what  has  been  done 
in  our  own  and  in  other  countries  in  the  same  depart¬ 
ment  of  public  reform,  it  was  an  eminently  successfu 
work.  It  effected  many  changes,  facilitated  many  oi 
the  operations  of  the  law,  and  simplified  it;  but  it  left 
the  great  structure,  as  it  had  gradually  been  reared  by 
successive  generations,  to  retain  all  its  majesty  of  form 
and  to  lose  none  of  its  harmony  of  proportions. 

In  1829  he  was  appointed  by  Governor  Van  Buren. 


309 


John  C.  Spencer. 

special  counsel  to  prosecute  the  abductors  and  supposed 
murderers  of  Morgan,  an  office  which  he  abandoned 
because  the  state  refused  to  allow  him  the  sum  of  $2000, 
necessary,  in  his  opinion,  to , procure  the  testimony  and 
attendance  of  a  convicting  witness.  The  appointment, 
its  resignation,  and  the  controversy  to  which  it  gave 
rise,  threw  him  into  the  ranks  of  the  rising  Antimasonic 
party  of  which  he  soon  became  the  master  spirit.  In 
1831  he  was  the  leader  of  that  party  in  the  assembly; 
and  in  1833  was  again  on  the  floor  of  that  body,  where 
he  had  sought  a  seat  for  the  purpose  of  sustaining  the 
administration  of  Francis  Granger,  who  had  been  put 
forward  by  his  friends  for  governor,  with  the  most 
sanguine  prospects  of  success. 

That  expectation  was  disappointed ;  and  the  Anti¬ 
masonic  party,  after  a  brief  and  fruitless  career,  subsided 
into  the  usual  course  of  opposition,  was  reabsorbed  into 
the  Whig  party,  and  remained  a  minority  till  1838,  when, 
amid  the  wrecks  of  speculation,  occasioned  by  the  mone¬ 
tary  changes  of  that  time,  it  came  into  power.  He  was 
appointed,  by  the  Whig  legislature  of  1839,  secretary  of 
state,  in  the  place  of  Gen.  Dix;  was  next  comptroller 
in  place  of  Bates  Cook,  deceased,  and  was  taken  from 
the  state  administration  in  1841,  by  President  Tyler,  to 
assume,  first,  the  office  of  secretary  of  war,  and  again 
that  of  secretary  of  the  treasury.  He  entered  the  cabinet 
of  Tyler  “with  the  advice  and  consent  of  his  political 
friends  the  Whigs  of  the  state  of  New  York.”  So  the 
Eve.  Journal  proclaimed  in  announcing  his  acceptance; 
but  the  connection  was  one  that  soon  carried  him  beyond 
the  sympathies  or  toleration  of  his  party. 

He  had  been  associated  with  Tyler  in  the  congress  of 
1819,  and  had  distinguished  himself  by  an  able  report 
against  the  Bank  of  the  United  States.  This  formed  the 
tie  of  an  honorable  connection,  and  the  extraordinary 
administrative  abilities  of  Mr.  Spencer  were  invaluable 
to  the  incoherent  and  disorganized  cabinet  which  Mr. 
Tyler,  in  his  unexpected  accession  to  the  presidency, 
was  compelled  to  rely  upon.  The  office  severed  him 


/ 


310  John  C.  Spencer. 

from  his  friends,  and  the  course  of  Mr.  Clay,  in  pro¬ 
claiming  the  outlawry  of  the  administration,  each  day 
made  the  breach  wider.  Powerless  for  success,  or  even 
self-defence,  the  administration  of  President  Tyler  was 
yet  capable  of  mischief  to  its  assailants.  In  1842,  Mr. 
Spencer  returned  to  New  York  to  advocate  the  election 
of  Gov.  Bouck,  who  was  running  against  Mr.  Bradish, 
and  to  proclaim  the  virtues  of  John  Tyler,  “  who  had 
been  brought  up  at  the  feet  of  Jefferson.”  He  remained 
in  the  cabinet  till  1844;  and  though  he  was  an  advocate 
of  the  election  of  Taylor  in  ’48,  and  Scott  in  ’52,  never 
regained  his  ascendency  in  his  party.  Indeed  he  lived 
to  bear  testimony,  like  Clay  and  Webster,  and  many 
others,  to  the  faithlessness,  the  selfishness,  and  the 
■organic  weakness  of  that  party — testimony  not  the  fruit 
-of  personal  disappointment,  but  of  philosophic  experience. 
A  career  so  varied,  in  which  personal  and  partizan  at¬ 
tachments  were  held  so  lightly,  in  which  opinions  and 
personal  relations  were  so  subordinated  to  ambition,  was 
-calculated  to  impair  everything  like  political  faith  in  the 
character  of  the  mover.  An  insatiable  activity  of  mind, 
a  knowledge  of  the  widest  scope,  an  aptitude  for  public 
affairs,  inherited,  indulged  in  from  youth,  and  disciplined 
through  manhood,  made  him  so  conscious  of  his  fitness 
for  public  station,  as  to  close  his  thoughts  to  all  lesser 
considerations.  It  kept  him  to  the  last  busied  with  the 
affairs  of  the  state;  and  made  him  indifferent  to  the 
character  of  the  employment  in  which  his  wondrous 
energy  and  adroitness  and  acuteness  might  be  employed. 
His  death  was  hastened  by  the  labors  he  volunteered  in 
exposition  of  the  affairs  of  Union  College  and  in  defence 
■of  Dr.  Nott.  His  perverted  ingenuity  was  manifested 
in  the  conception  of  the  nine  million  bill,  which  he 
framed  with  all  the  sophistry  of  his  subtle  genius — and 
though  detesting  the  men  in  whose  interest  the  magnifi¬ 
cent  scheme  of  chicanery  was  contrived — he  seems  to 
have  become  enlisted  in  the  attempt  to  undermine  the 
constitution,  merely  from  a  desire  to  exercise  his  talents 
as  an  engineer! 


311 


John  C.  Spencer. 

Yet  he  _did  much  that  will  endure  after  him.  His 
career  in  congress;  his  supjDort  of  the  war  of  1812;  his 
part  in  the  revision  of  the  statutes;  his  legislative  course 
generally,  were  honorable  to  himself  and  useful  to  the 
state.  He  took  early  ground  for  the  abolition  of  im¬ 
prisonment  for  debt  in  this  state,  and  inspired,  if  he  did 
not  draw  the  bill  by  which  that  measure  was  incorpo¬ 
rated  into  our  laws.  He  was  active  in  the  construction 
and  extension  of  our  common  school  system. 

He  also  introduced  many  practical  reforms  in  the 
laws,  the  character  of  which  the  legal  profession  alone 
can  adequately  appreciate.  When  speaker  of  the  as¬ 
sembly  he  organized  the  business  of  the  house  on  the 
basis  on  which  it  now  stands.  No  man  living  knew  so 
much  of  the  history  of  the  laws  of  this  state — from  their 
origin  through  all  their  changes,  as  he. 

He  had  indeed  wonderful  capacity  for  detail;  and  he 
permitted  himself  to  be  carried  away  by  it.  With  a 
mind  appreciative  of  the  higher  philosophy  of  legislation 
and  of  politics — as  was  manifested  in  his  edition  of  De 
Tocqueville’s  Democracy,  and  his  appreciation  of  that 
book,  and  the  impress  which  he  imparted  to  it,  in  his 
intercourse  with  the  author — he  seldom  stood  far  enough 
aloof  from  parties  and  interests,  to  regard  them  ab¬ 
stractly.  His  mind  was  nearer  like  that  of  Calhoun  than 
any  other  Americans  with  the  advantage  on  the  side  of 
the  southerner  of  a  mode  of  life  that  lifted  him  above 
the  necessity  of  submission  to  detail.  He  was,  like  the 
southerner,  capable,  ambitious,  indomitable,  free  from 
all  personal  vices;  deficient,  too,  like  him,  in -the  plastic 
and  congenial  qualities  that  attach  followers  to  party 
leaders.  The  versatility  of  position  that  marked  the 
career  of  both  was  not  the  result  of  flexibility  of  purpose 
or  vascillation  of  opinion  in  either;  but  of  powerful  ambi¬ 
tion,  wielding  intellect  as  a  weapon,  and  opening  for 
itself  a  career  wherever  it  chose.  Like  the  Carolinian, 
too,  he  was  proud  of  his  native  state,  for  he  knew  its 
history  and  the  great  events  of  which  it  had  been  the 
theatre,  and  he  resented  the  false  pretensions  by  which 
sectional  egotism  had  sought  to  depreciate  it. 


312  John  C.  Spencer . 

Mr.  Spencer  married  in  1809  a  daughter  of  James  Scott 
Smith,  and  commenced  the  practice  of  law  in  Canan¬ 
daigua.  He  regarded  that  place  as  his  home,  until  1845, 
when  he  returned  to  Albany,  where,  for  the  last  ten 
years  he  has  resided.  He  closed  his  life,  after  a  painful 
and  protracted  illness,  on  the  21st  of  May,  1855,  in  the 
68th  year  of  his  age. 

Such  a  character  stands  out  with  distinctness  amid  the 
crowd  of  commonplace  men,  his  cotemporaries;  and  in 
referring  to  him  in  terms  different  from  those  of  ordinary 
and  indiscriminate  eulogy,  with  which  the  multitude  go 
down  to  oblivion,  we  feel  that  we  are  but  making  a  re¬ 
cognition  of  a  character  fit  to  be  historic. 


DEATH  OF  JOHN  C.  SPENCER. 

Messrs.  Editors:  I  had  commenced  preparing  some 
notes  relative  to  the  memory  of  my  long  cherished  friend, 
the  late  John  C.  Spencer,  when  the  very  full  and  able 
obituary  in  your  paper  of  Friday  evening  came  to  hand. 
I  can  now  say  very  little  in  addition  to  or  in  correction 
of  your  statement.  It  is  not,  however,  as  full  as  I  could 
wish,  and,  as  I  believe,  his  few  other  old  surviving 
friends,  would  desire,  in  relation  to  the  portioft  of  his 
life  between  1809  and  1816,  embracing  the  period  of  the 
war  with  Great  Britian,  The  events  of  this  period  of 
six  or  seven  years  Mr.  Spencer  delighted  to  dwell  upon. 

It  was  my  good  fortune  to  become  acquainted  with 
Mr.  Spencer  when  he  first  came  to  Canandaigua,  with 
his  young  and  accomplished  bride,  now  the  mourning 
widow,  in  1809.  The  county  of  Ontario  then  embraced 
all  the  territory  now  included  in  the  counties  of  Wayne, 
Yates,  and  all  of  the  counties  of  Monroe  and  Livingston, 
east  of  the  Genesee  river.  The  bar  of  Ontario  county, 
at  the  time,  and  for  many  years  afterwards,  ranked 
among  its  members  some  of  the  most  eminent  and  ex- 


313 


John  C.  Spencer. 

perienced  lawyers  of  the  state ;  and  it  is  to  be  remarked 
that  the  profession  at  that  period  was  composed  almost 
entirely  of  those  who  belonged  to  the  federal  party. 
Mr.  Spencer  was  the  only  democratic  lawyer  in  the 
county.  His  clients  were  mostly  democrats,  political 
and  personal  friends,  and  as  no  inconsiderable  portion  of 
the  litigation  of  that  day  was  occasioned  by  party  col* 
lisions  and  the  bitterness  of  party  strife,  it  may  well  be 
supposed  that  he  encountered,  from  the  start,  a  combined 
opposition,  at  least  in  feeling  and  prejudice,  among  his 
brethren  of  the  bar — an  opposition  which  taxed  the 
utmost  energies  of  his  “  iron  will,”  and  which  made  it 
necessary  for  him  to  go  into  court,  as  he  used  often  to 
say,  “  prepared  at  all  points.”  It  was  at  that  early 
period  that  he  contracted  that  “wonderful  capacity  of 
detail,”  of  which  you  speak — the  examination  of  collateral 
points,  the  bearing  of  which  upon  the  main  point  in  issue, 
few  would  be  able,  at  first,  to  discover.  He  found  it 
necessary  to  be  continually  upon  his  guard  against  the 
attacks  of  his  political  as  well  as  his  professional  oppo¬ 
nents.  To  such  he  was  distant  and  repulsive  in  manner. 
He  was  indeed, 

“  Lofty  and  sour  to  those  who  loved  him  not, 

But  to  those  that  sought  him,  mild  as  summer.” 

During  the  period  to  which  I  refer,  Mr.  Spencer  was 
regarded,  if  not  the  standard-bearer  of  the  Democratic 
party,  at  least  the  target  of  the  opposition,  in  the  western 
counties  of  this  state.  It  was  well  known  that  to  his 
pen,  more  than  to  that  of  any  other,  the  administration 
of  Mr.  Madison  and  the  prosecution  of  the  war  received 
the  most  efficient  support.  As  the  editor  of  a  news¬ 
paper — the  writer  of  resolutions  and  addresses,  in  which 
it  was  not  his  habit  to  spare  his  adversaries,  he  concen¬ 
trated  upon  himself  no  small  share  of  the  abuse  of  the 
Federal  press  of  that  section  of  the  state.  But  his  aid  in 
the  prosecution  of  the  war  was  not  confined  to  his  pen. 
He  taught  by  example,  as  well  as  precept.  At  one  time, 
in  particular,  his  law  office  was  closed,  and  he  and  all 
his  clerks  were  mustered  among  the  volunteers  to  join 

/ 

* 


314 


John  C.  Spencer. 

Gen.  Harrison  at  Fort  George,  on  the  enemy’s  territories.  _ 
I  say  volunteers ,  for  it  should  not  be  forgotton  that  those 
were  the  main  reliance  of  the  national  government,  until 
1814.  In  the  spring  of  that  year,  for  the  first  time 
during  the  war,  a  majority  of  war  Democrats  was  re¬ 
turned  to  both  branches  of  the  legislature — a  special  or 
extra  session  of  which,  in  the  same  year,  passed  the 
celebrated  conscription  law,  as  it  was  termed  by  the 
Federalists,  by  which  12,000  men,  with  arms,  &c.,  were 
to  be  raised  and 'placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  national 
government.  Mr.  Spencer  was  the  firm  supporter  of 
that  measure,  as  he  was  indeed  of  every  measure  of  that 
pure  patriot,  Governor  Tompkins,  during  the  “second 
war  for  independence.” 

I  should  not  omit  to  state  that  Mr.  Spencer  held  one 
important  office,  during  the  war,  which  you  have  omitted 
to  mention..  It  was  that  of  United  States  Assessor,  under 
the  act  of  congress  of  1813,  imposing  a  direct  tax  to  aid 
in  the  means  of  prosecuting  the  war.  This  law  was  ex¬ 
ceedingly  odious  to  the  opponents  of  the  administration. 

It  required  great  firmness  and  legal  exactness  on  the  part 
of  all  those  who  accepted  appointments  to  carry  it  into 
effect.  The  duties  of  assessor  under  this  law  were  fear¬ 
lessly  and  accurately  discharged  by  Mr.  Spencer. 

If  Mr.  Spencer,  as  you  state,  suffered  his  ingenuity  to 
be  perverted  in  the  framing  of  the  nine  million  canal  bill, 
no  one  condemned  in  stronger  terms  than  he  did,  the 
subsequent  proceedings  under  it — proceedings  calculated, 
if  not  intended,  to  appropriate,  as  profits  on  contracts, 
so  large  a  proportion  of  the  money  proposed  to  be  raised 
under  that  bill;  and  no  one,  I  believe,  supported  with 
more  zeal,  the  public  officers  of  the  state  in  refusing  to 
open  the  treasury  to  the  payment  of  these  contracts, 
until  the  courts  declared  them  void. 

The  efforts  of  Mr.  Spencer  during  his  long  professional 
career,  although  they  can  not  be  classed  among  the  more 
brilliant  in  the  popular  estimation,  yet  they  were  quite 
as  useful  and  conducive  to  the  peace  and  good  order  of 
society.  I  may  be  pardoned  for  giving  him  credit,  on 


815 


John  C.  Spencer. 

this  occasion,  for  one  of  his  greatest  and  most  successful 
efforts  of  this  tendency.  The  title  of  the  Holland  Land 
company  to  the  land  in  nine  of  the  western  counties  of 
this  state,  although  no  original  title  in  this  state  is  clearer, 
was  intricate  and  involved.  After  the  courts,  in  several 
suits,  at  different  times,  had  decided  in  favor  of  the  title, 
the  disaffected  parties  thought  proper  to  bring  the  subject 
before  the  legislature,  which  they  did  in  1837.  A 
majority  of  the  committee  to  whom  the  subject  was 
referred  made  a  report  favorable  to  the  petitioners.  The 
minority  presented  a  counter  report  in  favor  of  and  in 
support  of  the  title.  This  minority  report  was  drawn  up 
by  Mr.  Spencer.  It  is  one  of  the  ablest  and  most  con¬ 
clusive  papers  to  be  found  upon  the  journals  of  the  legis¬ 
lature.  It  was  widely  distributed.  It  arrested  further 
legislative  proceedings,  put  an  end  to  further  agitation, 
and  quieted  the  apprehensions  of  all. 

My  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Spencer  commenced  in  the 
spring  time  of  life — at  least  of  active  life,  more  than 
forty-five  years  since.  During  this  long  period  I  have 
entertained  towards  him,  personally,  feelings  of  profound 
respect — respect  for  his  talents,  and  for  his  patriotic 
efforts  during  the  war  of  1812,  but  more  especially  re¬ 
spect  for  his  social  virtues,  his  kindness  of  heart  and 
enduring  friendship.  I  desire  to  condole  with  his  relatives 
and  many  friends,  assuring  them,  as  I  do,  that  his  de¬ 
parture  from  among  us  has  afflicted  me  most  keenly. 

R. 


(  316) 


THE  OLD  STATE  HALL. 

From  the  N.  Y.  Courier  and  Enquirer. 


After  due  deliberation — after  looking  with  divided 
heart  at  the  elegant  and  well-arranged  plans  of  the 
architect  on  the  one  side,  and  at  the  treasury  on  the  other, 
the  commissioners  of  the  land  office  have  determined  to 
pull  down  John  Jay’s  old  State  Hall,  and  grace  the 
southern  side  of  State  street  wTith  an  edifice  of  beauty — 
thus  giving  to  St.  Peter’s,  just  opposite,  an  example. 
The  walls  of  the  one  are  already  in  ruins — the  spire  on 
the  other  imitates  the  inclination  of  Pisa’s  tow^er.  By 
civil  and  ecclesiastic  expenditure,  this  broad  avenue  shall 
yet  be  renowned  for  something  better  than  mere  wfidth 
and  declivity.  Our  new  City  Hall  is  not  ordered  with¬ 
out  nights  of  debate — excellent,  doubtless — oratorical, 
possibly — aldermanic,  certainly.  Its  marble  sculptures 
come  into  being  after  perilous  rivalry  between  a  centre 
that  is  for  us — and  one  that  wdth  its  hot  palpitation  of 
throng  and  earnest  life  is  to  throb  for  the  future — Carpe 
diem  and  the  hall  with  it. 

The  state  quietly  determines  that  its  agriculture  and 
its  science  deserve  a  suitable  room,  and  in  a  section  utterly 
passed  over,  amidst  the  turmoil  of  strong  arguments 
concerning  tolls  and  taxes,  the  building  is  ordered — and 
in  fulfillment  of  their  duties,  the  officers  designated  pro¬ 
ceed  to  make  a  wreck  and  a  ruin  of  the  goodly  structure 
which,  in  the  days  of  the  chief  justice— then  the  gover¬ 
nor — was  deemed  so  useful,  and,  perhaps,  so  ornamental. 

John  Jay  was  a  chief  magistrate  of  the  old  school — 
perhaps  not  wriser  or  better  than  the  modern,  but  waving 
that  debatable  point,  he  is,  in  history,  one  of  the  orna¬ 
ments  of  the  early  career  of  this  state.  George  Clinton 


The  Old  State  Hall. 


317 


beat  him  in  the  gubernatorial  canvass — that  is  to  say, 
the  canvassers  so  decided.  It  was  a  page  of  strategy 
concerning  which  the  chronicles  of  the  “good  old  times” 
had  best  remain  silent.  He  succeeded  over  the  intel¬ 
lectual  Robert  Yates,  and  the  powerful  Robert  R.  Living¬ 
ston,  and  the  century  ended  in  his  administration. 

Whether  in  the  construction  of  the  old  hall,  the 
economical  government  of  those  days  took  the  materia] 
which  had  formed  the  bastions  and  parapets  of  Fort 
Frederick,  which  stood  opposite,  does  not  appear,  but 
they  took  the  fortress  as  a  model  in  strength.  The  walls 
now  being  demolished  were  massive — there  was  solid 
measure  in  its  fabric.  I  recollect,  and  so  will  all  whose 
duties  were  in  other  days  those  of  the  student  in  the  law 
— with  what  admiring  wonder  we  traversed  that  curious 
stone  staircase,  so  ingeniously  built  in  the  wall  at  one 
end  of  each  step,  that,  no  pillar  or  column  appearing, 
it  was  a  perpetual  puzzle  to  us,  whether  the  staircase 
held  up  the  iron  rail,  or  whether  it  was  itself  suspended 
by  it. 

How  many  were  the  pilgrimages  to  the  “common  rule 
book”  where  the  absurdity  of  legal  fiction  made  a  record 
necessary.  Legal  reform,  if  it  has  accomplished  little, 
has  some  claim  on  our  gratitude  for  its  obliteration  of  the 
devices  that  caused  us  to  make  such  weary  ascent  daily* 

The  old  hall  witnessed  the  comptrollership  of  Archi¬ 
bald  McIntyre,  of  Silas  Wright,  of  William  L.  Marcy. 
It  was  the  scene  of  some  deliberations— not  so  immediatey 
“on  official  business.”  Thence  issued  the  decrees— there 
spun  the  web  of  the  famous  and  powerful  Albany  Regency 
— the  men  who  touched  the  springs  whose  vibrations 
thrilled  through  all  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  state. 
That  power  centered  in  the  elevation  of  Martin  Van 
Buren,  and  while  it  remained  a  phalanx,  he  could  smile 
at  danger.  Where  is  “the  Regency?”  Almost  its  very 
memories  are  fading.  It  lives,  I  suspect,  warmest  and 
raciest,  in  some  delicious  dozens,  yet  preserved — dusty 
and  delightful — opened  occasionally,  and  hugely  enjoyed 
when  brought  to  the  chandelier’s  light.  They  who  ruled 


318 


The  Old  State  Hall. 


a  great  republic,  mingling  the  agreeable  with  the  power¬ 
ful — had  the  taste  to  import  some  delicious  wine.  It  has 
lasted  longer  than  the  old  and  strong  walled  structure 
where  their  counsels  were  held,  and  whence  their  might 
was  promulgated. 

Upon  its  ruins  an  edifice  is  to  rise,  devoted  to  the  uses  of 
the  most  useful  of  all  the  departments — the  agricultural, 
and  extending  space  enough  also  to  the  already  large  and 
valuable  geological  collection,  so  that  there  will  be  no 
want  of  opportunity  to  the  legislator  to  know,  as  it  has 
been  said  Brougham  does — “a  little  of  everything.” 

The  old  hall  has  existed  more  than  a  half  century.  It 
is,  therefore,  in  the  antiquity  peculiar  to  our  country, 
quite  of  another  age  and  period.  The  men  who  made 
high  place  then  the  aim  of  honorable  ambition,  many  of 
them — I  will  not  say — linger  yet  in  life — they  remain. 
Marcy  is,  I  suppose,  as  much  comptroller  (varying  the 
orthography)  now  as  then,  though  of  men  rather  than 
accounts.  And  others  who  were  in  this  hall  in  power, 
even  yet  make  their  mark  on  public  event.  The  passing 
away  of  the  old  rooms  and  galleries  does  but,  however, 
prefigure  the  gliding  into  history  of  these  statesmen  and 
their  compeers — and  to  the  coming  hall  the  coming  men 
are  preparing. 


(  319  ) 


ANNALS  OF  THE  YEAR  1854. 


January. 

Jan.  1.  The  Bank  of  the  Union  went  into  operation, 

with  a  capital  of  $300.000 . A  snow  storm  of  the 

preceding  night  made  the  first  good  sleighing  of  the  sea¬ 
son . William  H.  Lee,  of  this  city,  died  at  Palmyra, 

Mich.,  aged  29. 

2.  The  festival  of  the  New  Year  observed  with  great 
hilarity,  heightened  by  the  fine  sleighing  and  the  bright 

sun . Mrs.  Betsey  Kendall,  wife  of  Benoni  C.  Allen, 

died  in  Philadelphia,  aged  60. 

3.  Meeting  of  the  legislature;  Robert  H.  Pruyn  elected 
speaker  of  the  house,  and  Hugh  J.  Hastings  clerk  of  the 
senate. 

4.  There  were  forty  insane  persons  in  the  Alms  House* 

5.  Edwin  Croswell,  late  of  Albany,  was  prostrated  by 

paralysis,  in  New  York . Adam  Todd  builder,  died, 

aged  55. 

6.  A  workman  engaged  on  the  Round  House  of  the 
Central  rail  road,  fell  to  the  turntable,  a  distance  of  70. 

feet,  and  escaped  with  a  broken  limb . Mrs.  Ann 

Brown  died,  aged  87. 

7.  Rachel  Ursula,  wife  of  Jacob  A.  Lansing,  died,  aged 

31 . Amanda,  wife  of  Jason  Russell,  died  aged  3 U 

. Francis  C.  Marble  died,  aged  230 

8.  Col.  John  Osborn,  died  at  Batavia,  aged  44.  He 
was  colonel  of  the  25th  Regiment,  commander  of  the 
Burgesses  Corps  and  Emmet  Guards,  and  took  a  great 
deal  of  interest  in  military  affairs. 

9.  Lydia  Lush  died,  aged  53. 

[Annals,  vi.]  28 


320 


Annals  of  1854. 

10.  Funeral  of  Col.  John  Osborn,  attended  by  all  the 

military  in  full  uniform . Meeting  of  the  new  board 

of  common  council;  present  Wm.  Parmelee,  mayor; 
Wm.  A.  Young,  recorder;  Bleecker,  Chesebro,  Davidson, 
Feltman,  Godard,  Harris,  Jones,  McCall,  McElroy,  Mor¬ 
row,  Rossman,  Russell,  Thompson.  Townsend,  Vanderlip, 
Van  Rensselaer,  Wilson.  The  officers  of  the  board  were 
appointed  as  follows:  David  M.  Barnes,  clerk  of  the 
board;  Henry  S.  McCall,  city  attorney;  Henry  T.  Spen¬ 
cer,  almshouse  physician;  Henry  H.  Burhans,  marshal.. 

1 1.  Prof.  Carr  commenced  a  series  of  lectures,  forming 
the  chemical  department  of  the  University. 

12.  A  rain  stor-m  removed  all  the  snow  which  had 
fallen,  and  deluged  the  streets. 

13.  The  ice  moved  down  the  river,  carrying  with  it 
the  two  ferry  boats,  which  came  in  collision,  staving  in 

their  sides,  and  choking  them  in  the  ice . A  lad  was 

killed  at  the  rail  road  crossing . Ira  B.  Cary,  of  the 

firm  of  Dows  &  Cary,  died  at  his  residence  at  Whites- 
town,  Oneida  county.  He  had  been  a  produce  commission 
merchant  in  this  city  and  New  York  nearly  thirty  years, 
and  was  supposed  to  have  left  a  fortune  of  more  than 

three  hundred  thousand  dollars . W.  W.  Groesbeeck, 

formerly  of  Albany,  died  in  New  York,  aged  70 . 

James  Cahill  died,  aged  74. 

14.  Agnes  Jane  McClure  died,  aged  22. 

17.  Mathew  Coulter  died,  aged  42 . Mrs.  Elizabeth 

Bayard  died  at  the  manor  house  of  Stephen  Van  Rens¬ 
selaer,  aged  92. 

18.  Catharine,  wife  of  Edward  Reily,  died,  aged  37. 

20.  The  Cavalry  Corps  made  a  formal  presentation  of 
a  sword,  valued  at  $200,  to  Capt.  J.  W.  Harcourt,  at 

Knight’s  restaurant,  in  Beaver  street, . Elizabeth, 

wife  of  James  Farrell,  died. 

21.  Michael  Howard  died,  aged  31 .  Mrs.  Margaret 

Clark  died,  aged  30. 

22.  Margaret  Jane,  wife  of  Wm.  J.  Caldwell,  died, 

aged  32 . Susan,  widow  of  Josiah  Clark,  died,  aged 

53. 


321 


Annals  of  1854. 

23.  The  river  was  again  covered  with  ice,  so  as  to 
obstruct  the  passage  of  the  ferry  boats,  for  the  crossing 

of  which  channels  had  to  be  cut . Thermometer 

below  zero . Donald  Fisher  died,  aged  46 .  Nancy 

M.  Redden,  wife  of  J.  H.  Corbett,  late  of  Albany,  died 
at  Greenbush,  aged  31. 

24.  Thermometer  below  zero. 

25.  Thermometer  below  zero  in  the  morning . 

Potatoes  $1*25  a  bushel;  flour  $9  to  $10  a  barrel;  coal 
$8  a  ton . Amanda  M.,  wife  of  Asa  Fassett,  died. 

27.  Mary  Jane,  wife  of  Paul  Cushman,  died . Lucy 

Ann  Drummond,  daughter  of  the  late  E.  Fay,  died  at 
Sacramento,  aged  30. 

29.  Thermometer  ranged  from  four  to  eight  degrees 

below  zero  in  the  morning . Diana  Van  Rensselaer 

died,  aged  61 . Edgar  Crapo  died,  aged  24. 

31.  J.  H.  Wood  died,  aged  20 . Mrs.  Louisa,  wife 

of  John  Meads,  died,  aged  69. 

February. 

V 

1.  A  number  of  Germans  assembled  at  the  Capitol 
park,  and  burnt  the  effigy  of  the  pope’s  nuncio,  Bedini; 
as  had  been  done  by  their  countrymen  in  other  American 

cities . Dr.  P.  Gannon  died,  aged  74;  a  native  of 

Ireland,  who  practiced  medicine  in  this  city  many  years, 

and  was  much  esteemed . Catharine  Fitzgerald  died, 

aged  59. 

2.  Mrs.  Alida  Groesbeck  died,  aged  97 ;  supposed  to 
have  been  the  oldest  inhabitant  of  the  city  at  the  time. 

3.  A  fire  corner  of  Lydius  and  Hawk  streets,  injured 

a  dwelling  house  slightly . At  an  election  of  officers 

of  the  Young  Men’s  Association,  George  C.  Lee  was 
chosen  president . Mrs.  Maria  Dederick  died,  aged  76. 

4.  Peter  B.  Leddy  died,  aged  38. 

5.  An  alarm  of  fire  about  11  o’clock  at  night,  caused 

by  the  burning  of  a  carpenter’s  shop . Mary  Gibson 

died,  aged  42. 

6.  The  Franklin  House  took  fire  about  11  o’clock  in 


322  Annals  of  1854. 

the  morning,  and  was  considerably  damaged  by  fire  and 
water .  John  S.  Vandervolgen  died,  aged  42. 


7.  Mrs.  Jane  Thompson  died,  aged  86;  a  colored 

woman,  known  as  Jenny  Dick.  She  was  famous  many 
years  ago  as  the  keeper  of  a  restaurant,  and  having  mar¬ 
ried  Richard  Thompson,  who  was  called  Dick,  she  ac¬ 
quired  the  name  of  Jenny  Dick;  and  having  outlived  one 
or  two  generations,  it  was  generally  supposed  to  be  her 
correct  cognomen.  When  her  death  was  published  in  the 
newspapers,  no  one  recognized  it  as  the  well  known  Jenny 
Dick . Wm.  J.  Angus  died,  aged  36. 

8.  A  great  poultry  show  at  Van  Vechten  Hall;  the 
result  of  the  chicken  fever  that  had  raged  for  only  about 
one  year  among  the  amateurs  of  foreign  fowls.  It  was  a 
much  greater  exhibition  than  its  friends  anticipated  when 

the  affair  was  proposed . The  State  Agricultural 

Society  held  its  annual  fair,  and  elected  officers  for 

the  ensuing  year . The  State  Medical  Society,  in 

session  at  the  City  Hall,  held  its  annual  election  for  offi¬ 
cers  . An  alarm  of  fire  at  nine  o’clock  in  the  evening 

was  caused  by  the  burning  of  a  dwelling  in  Greenbush. 
. Ellen,  wife  of  David  Lynch,  died. 

9.  A  fire  broke  out  early  in  the  morning,  in  the  fourth 
story  of  the  building  corner  Maiden  lane  and  Dean  st., 
occupied  as  a  stove  store  by  Vose&  Co.,  which  damaged 
the  building  and  goods  more  than  five  thousand  dollars. 

11.  Elisha  Putnam  died,  aged  89.  Mr.  Putnam  was  an 
eminent  builder  in  his  day,  and  several  of  the  older 
churches  were  erected  by  him. 

14.  A  convention  of  women,  male  and  female,  held  at 
Association  Hall,  when  justice  to  woman  was  discussed 
eloquently  by  several  of  the  shining  lights  among  the  sex 

. Harriet  Amelia,  wife  of  Wm.  J.  Morrison,  late  of 

Albany,  died  at  South  East,  aged  22. 

15.  A  special  election  was  held  throughout  the  state  to 
determine  whether  the  people  were  in  favor  of  borrowing 
money  to  enlarge  the  canals.  The  number  of  votes  cast 
in  Albany  was  3,767  for  the  measure,  and  876  against  it. 

16.  The  rise  of  water  in  the  river  submerged  the  docks, 


323 


Annals  of  1854. 

and  penetrated  the  basements  of  the  stores  and  dwellings 
near  the  basin.  But  the  ice  was  too  strong  to  be  moved 
by  the  flood. 

17.  Francis  McGuigan  died,  aged  43. ....  .Thomas  A.. 
Whalen  died  in  New  York,  aged  20. 

18.  A  bill  was  introduced  before  the  legislature  to 
authorize  the  construction  of  a  bridge  at  Albany. 

19.  Fanton  Lawlor  died,  aged  53. 

20.  A  petition  wras  presented  to  both  branches  of  the 
legislature,  with  10,000  signatures,  for  the  extension  to 
women  of  certain  rights  which  they  claimed  as  belonging 

to  them . William  Gibson,  stabbed  by  John  Hough- 

taling  in  a  scuffle  some  time  previously,  died  of  the  wound, 
aged  30. 

22.  The  birthday  of  Washington  was  celebrated  by  the 
military,  and  the  butchers  decorated  their  stalls,  and 
made  the  usual  display  of  fatted  meats.  One  of  them 
presented  the  novelty  of  a  huge  bear,  dressed  and  hung, 

the  paws  alone  having  the  skin  remaining . A  fire 

on  the  corner  of  Pearl  and  Rensselaer  streets  destroyed 
a  paint  shop  and  several  other  buildings,  a  little  past  3 

o’clock  in  the  morning . Robert  Trumbull  died  at 

Belle  Centre,  Ohio. 

24.  The  common  council,  at  a  private  meeting,  resolved 
to  petition  the  legislature  for  permission  to  loan  the  credit 
of  the  city  to  the  Northern  Rail  Road  to  the  amount  of 

$300,000 . Mrs.  Mary  Martin  died,  aged  89 . 

Richard  Bane  died,  aged  20. 

25.  Barbara,  wife  of  George  Medhour,  died,  aged  44. 

26.  A  canal  boat  on  fire  at  the  foot  of  Maiden  lane 

called  out  the  engines,  but  was  extinguished  with  little 
loss . Mark  Stevenson  died,  aged  57. 

28.  A  fire  destroyed  the  oil  cloth  factory  of  Woolman 
&  Pforth  on  the  Schenectady  turnpike  about  9  o’clock  in 
the  evening.  Loss  about  $4,000. 

March. 

1.  Stephen  Mesick  died,  aged  53. 

2.  John  Greishian  died,  aged  64. 


324 


Annals  of  1854. 

3.  Mrs.  Harriet  Harvey,  daughter  of  Lyman  Philleo, 

late  of  Albany,  died  at  Dubuque,  Iowa . Dr.  Harman 

G.  Wynkoop  died,  aged  68 . Elizabeth  Prey  died, 

aged  30. 

4.  The  water  covered  the  pier  and  entered  the  ware¬ 
houses  along  the  docks . F rancis  Maloy  died,  aged  20. 

6.  Workmen  commenced  taking  down  the  Hudson 
Street  Temperance  House,  near  the  dock,  with  the  view 

of  erecting  a  large  hotel  upon  its  site . William  J. 

Whitney  died,  aged  31 . Thomas  Thompson  died, 

aged  52. ....  .Eleanor  Jane,  wife  of  Hiram  Yates,  died, 
aged  33 . Matilda  Briggs,  wife  of  Henry  Merce,  died. 

8.  Joachim  Miller  died,  aged  29. 

9.  William  Gill,  aged  nearly  20  }mars,  died  of  a  wound 
received  by  the  bursting  of  a  grindstone. 

10.  The  ice  made  a  slight  movement  downwards; 
several  persons  had  fallen  through  the  ice  during  the  two 
preceding  days. 

11.  The  ice  cleared  away  in  front  of  the  city  about 

four  o’clock  in  the  morning,  and  formed  a  dam  about 
three  miles  below,  causing  a  great  rise  of  water,  submerg¬ 
ing  the  dock  and  the  lower  part  of  the  city . Mrs. 

Sarah  Woodbridge  died,  aged  81 . Elisha  Blanchard 

died,  aged  57  . Catharine  Frinton  died. 

12.  James  Quinn  died,  aged  23. 

13.  In  the  afternoon  the  ice  moved  out  of  the  gorge, 
where  it  annually  chokes  the  passage,  throwing  back  the 
current  and  deluging  all  the  low  land,  and  causing  a 
stampede  among  the  honest  tradesmen  on  the  dock  and 

pier . Capt.  John  Buckbee,  an  ancient  skipper,  who 

sailed  a  sloop  on  the  Hudson  river  twenty-five  years, 
and  had  resided  in  Albany  half  a  century,  died  at  the  age 
of  81,  much  respected. .  .  .Thomas  W.  Gibb  died,  aged  35. 

14.  The  Old  Folks’  concert,  at  which  most  of  the 
performers  were  past  the  middle  age,  and  the  pieces 
ancient,  was  given  at  the  Congregational  church.  The 
proceeds,  $125’80,  was  donated  to  the  Home  of  the 

Friendless . Mrs.  Harriet  Clark  King,  widow  of  the 

late  James  King,  died  at  Woodlawn. 


325 


Annals  of  1854. 

15.  Friend  Humphrey  died,  aged  67.  He  was  born  at 

Simsbury,  Ct.,  1787,  and  was  the  youngest  of  eleven 
children.  He  was  a  tanner  and  currier  at  Lansingburgh, 
under  Russell  Forsyth,  now  also  of  this  city.  He  came 
to  Albany  in  1811,  and  acquired  a  moderate  fortune  as  a 
leather  merchant.  He  was  elected  to  various  offices  of 
responsibility  and  honor,  for  his  great  moral  worth, 
integrity  and  efficiency,  among  which  were  those  of  state 
senator  and  mayor  of  the  city.  He  was  for  a  long  period 
an  officer  in  the  First  Baptist  church,  and  assisted  mate¬ 
rially  in  the  erection  of  their  edifice  in  Pearl  street . 

James  Taylor,  nineteen  years  cashier  of  the  Commercial 
Bank,  died,  aged  about  65. 

16.  The  steam  boat  P.  G.  Coffin,  from  Catskill,  was  the 
first  boat  that  reached  the  wharf  from  below.  The  pro¬ 
peller  Hoboken  was  the  first  steam  boat  from  New  York. 

17.  The  great  steamer  Oregon  arrived  from  New  York, 
the  first  of  the  passenger  boats. 

18.  A  tremendous  gale,  which  began  the  previous 

evening,  swept  over  the  city,  blowing  off  roofs  and, 

chimneys.  Its  greatest  fury  was  about  11  o’clock  in  the 

morning.  So  great  a  tornado  had  not  been  known  here 

in  half  a  centurv. 

%/ 

19.  John  Whitmore,  a  North  river  pilot,  died  on  the 
Young  America  steam  boat,  on  his  way  up  the  river. 

20.  Henry  Yates,  of  the  late  firm  of  Yates  &  McIntyre, 
who  conducted  the  great  state  lotteries,  died  at  the  man¬ 
sion  on  Westerlo  street,  aged  84. 

21.  Fire  corner  of  North  Pearl  and  Van  Schaick  sts., 

injured  several  buildings . Mrs.  Laura  Ann  Phillips 

died,  aged  27. 

22.  John  Adams  died,  aged  19 . Alana,  wife  of 

Alexander  Shepherd,  died,  aged  57 . John  Young  died, 

aged  72. 

23.  Meeting  of  citizens  at  the  Capitol  to  deprecate  the 
bill  before  congress,  introduced  by  Senator  Douglas  to 

extend  slavery  to  the  new  territory  of  Nebraska. . 

Mary,  wife  of  John  McCaffrey,  died,  aged  26. 

25.  Harriet  Penniman  died. 


326 


Annals  of  1854. 

26.  A  very  adroit  robbery  of  two  watches  and  a  ring 
was  perpetrated  by  one  McDonald,  upon  Messrs.  Williams 
&  Co.,  jewelers,  in  State  street.  McDonald  was  arrested 
on  board  the  Isaac  Newton,  and  the  stolen  property  taken 

from  him . Henry  A.  Walker,  a  native  of  Albany, 

died  at  Morristown,  N.  J.  He  was  for  several  years  one 
of  the  most  influential  and  worthy  planters  of  the  island 
of  St.  Croix. 

27.  The  river  was  nearly  closed  with  ice  again,  and 
the  water  so  low  that  the  large  boats  were  grounded  at 

Castleton  as  well  as  other  heavily  laden  vessels . 

Jane  Ann,  wife  of  Capt.  C.  L.  Gager,  formerly  of  Albany, 
died  at  Buffalo,  aged  47. 

28.  Two  lumber  yards,  between  Centre  and  Water 

streets,  were  fired  by  incendiaries,  about  4  o’clock  in 
the  morning,  by  which  more  than  $10,000  worth  of  lum¬ 
ber  and  other  property  was  consumed . John  I.  Wen¬ 

dell  died,  aged  76. 

29.  A  fire  partially  destroyed  a  carpenter  shop  in  Pat- 

roon  street . Maximilian  Bergeron  died,  aged  67. 

30.  The  severity  of  the  weather  had  been  so  great  for 
more  than  a  week  that  the  navigation  of  the  river  was 
so  much  impeded  as  to  prevent  the  steam  boats  from 
making  their  regular  trips.  The  Isaac  Newton  was  much 

damaged  by  floating  ice,  and  laid  up  for  repairs . 

William  Henry  Slawson  died,  aged  22 . The  Old 

Folks  gave  their  second  concert  at  the  Congregational 
church,  when  there  was  a  proud  time  for  the  ancient 
psalmody. 

31.  The  south  wind  cleared  the  river  of  its  icy  obstruc¬ 
tions  and  raised  the  water  so  as  to  release  the  bar  of  a 
part  of  the  flotilla  that  had  been  accumulating  there,  and 
among  them  the  Oregon,  which  had  remained  there 

nearly  a  week . An  alarm  of  fire  in  the  evening, 

which  proceeded  from  the  bonfires  lit  up  on  occasion  of 

the  veto  of  the  anti-liquor  bill,  by  Gov.  Seymour . 

Mrs.  Esther  A.  Cordell  died,  aged  44. 


327 


Annals  of  1854. 

April. 

1.  Henry  L.  Winants  died,  aged  44. 

2.  A  fire  about  two  o’clock  in  the  morning  destroyed 
a  bakery  in  Ferry  street. 

3.  A  German  company  commenced  a  series  of  per¬ 
formances  at  the  Green  Street  theatre,  which  was  called 
German  opera,  the  first  thing  of  the  kind  here. 

4.  A  demonstration  was  made  in  the  evening  by  the 
enemies  of  temperance  reformations;  the  govenor  called 
out  and  addressed  by  the  editor  of  the  Freie  Blatter ; 

and  a  torch  light  procession  and  row  followed . 

Alphonso  Walker  died,  aged  37. 

5.  George  H.  Kuril,  of  this  city,  died  in  New  York. 

7.  There  was  a  great  concourse  of  people  assembled  at 

the  City  Hall  to  witness  the  final  sentence,  by  Judge 
Harris,  of  John  Hendrickson,  Jr.,  for  the  murder  of  his 
wife ;  forming  the  conclusion  of  one  of  the  most  exciting 

trials  ever  held  in  this  city . Mary,  wife  of  P.  Smith, 

died,  aged  38. 

10.  A  fire  in  the  Bowery  destroyed  a  part  of  the  oil¬ 
cloth  factory,  which  had  just  risen  from  the  ruins  of  a 
previous  fire. 

11.  Thomas  Linacre  died,  aged  73 . Edward  B. 

Slason  died,  aged  44 . Patrick  Ryan  died,  aged  48 

. John  S.  Vedder  died,  aged  43. 

15.  Six  inches  of  snow  fell  early  in  the  morning, 
obstructing  rail  roads,  and  preventing  steam  boats  and 

stages  from  making  their  morning  ingress . Ann,  wife 

of  Luther  Frisbee,  died,  aged  49. 

16.  A  fire  in  Jefferson  street  destroyed  a  couple  of 

woodsheds . Louis  Labreche  died,  aged  39 . 

Sheldon  Main  died,  aged  57. 

17.  Snow  fell  all  day. 

18.  Thomas  Bateman  died,  aged  46 . Daniel  Gifford 

'  died,  aged  74. 

19.  Elizabeth  Smith  died,  aged  26. 

20.  A  false  alarm  of  fire . Nancy  Gifford  died,  aged 

39 . Patience  Smiley  died,  aged  72. 


328 


Annals  of  1854. 

21.  Rowland  Jones  died,  aged  81. 

22.  John  G.  Waterman,  late  of  Albany,  died  at  Castle- 

ton,  aged  38 . Henry  Bendall  died  at  Brooklyn,  aged 

44,  late  of  Albany. 

23.  Amos  Fanning  died,  aged  67 . Wm.  Cameron 

died,  aged  55 . Mary  Powers  died,  aged  40. 

25.  William  A.  Perkins  died,  aged  24. 

28.  Alarm  of  fire  caused  by  the  burning  of  a  canal 

boat . The  pier  and  wharves  were  submerged  for 

the  seventh  time  this  year . Charles  Priest  died. 

30.  The  freshet,  caused  by  the  almost  incessant  rains 
of  the  previous  four  days,  reached  a  higher  point  than 
had  been  known  during  several  years,  in  the  absence  of 
any  ice.  The  loss  and  damage  to  property  in  the  vicinity 
of  the  river  was  very  great.. ....  .A  fire  occurred  at  9 

o’clock  in  the  morning  in  the  building  near  the  corner  of 
the  dock  and  Hamilton  street,  which  was  arrested  with 
slight  damage.  Another  alarm  of  fire  in  the  evening  was 
caused  by  the  ringing  of  a  furnace  bell  to  call  the  work¬ 
men  together  to  remove  property  beyond  the  reach  of  the 
water . Samuel  Smith  died,  aged  43. 

May. 

1.  Moving  day.  Many  families  moved  out  of  their 
houses  by  the  aid  of  boats,  several  streets  being  under 

water . The  canals  were  opened,  but  owing  to  the 

high  water  the  weigh  lock  was  inoperative,  and  boats 

that  cleared  were  weighed  at  other  locks . There 

were  three  or  four  alarms  of  fire  during  the  afternoon  and 
evening,  but  the  damages  were  slight. 

2.  Michael  Carroll  died,  aged  39 . Patrick  Dennin 

died,  aged  42. 

3.  The  first  boat  arrived  by  the  Erie  canal,  with  120 

tons  of  corn . Lansing  B.  Taylor,  formerly  an  Albany 

merchant,  died  at  Glen’s  Falls,  aged,  25 . Stephen 

Van  Valkenburgh  died. 

4.  The  first  canal  boat  arrived  by  the  northern  canal. 

5.  John  Hendrickson,  Jr.,  of  New  Scotland,  was  exe- 


329 


Jnnals  of  1854. 

\ 

cuted  in  the  Jail  in  Maiden  lane,  for  the  murder  of  his 

wife  by  poison. . Betsey,  wife  of  Richard  I.  DeForest, 

died,  aged  57. 

6.  David  Hosford  died,  aged  87. 

7.  Ice  found  in  many  places  in  the  city  in  the  morning; 
fruit  and  vegetables  suffered  by  the  severity  of  the  cold. 

8.  A  fire  destroyed  a  grocery  store  corner  Franklin 
and  Mulberry  streets,  about  8  o’clock  in  the  morning 

. In  the  afternoon  a  couple  of  small  buildings  were 

damaged  by  fire  in  Howard  street . The  six-penny 

savings  bank,  in  connection  with  the  Bank  of  the  Capitol, 
went  into  operation,  the  first  of  the  kind  in  the  city 
. Maria  M.  Potter  died. 

10.  A  force  of  several  hundred  men  under  Major  Fra¬ 
zier  began  operations  upon  the  channel  of  the  river  with 
a  view  to  improving  the  navigation  between  this  city  and 
Castleton,  the  government  having  appropriated  $50,000 

to  that  object . Reuben  Wilson  died,  aged  26 . 

John  Roe  died,  aged  62 . Patrick  Campion  died. 

11.  Charles  Buel  died,  aged  43. 

12.  A  fire  destroyed  a  carpenter’s  shop  early  in  the 
morning,  in  Elm  street. 

15.  A  fire  at  11  o’clock  at  night  partially  destroyed  a 

wooden  house  in  Park  street . Mr.  Joel  Rathbone 

while  walking  up  Elk  street  early  in  the  evening  was 
knocked  down  by  an  unknown  hand.  A  reward  of  $100 

was  offered  for  the  discovery  of  the  aggressor . 

William  E.  Hays  died,  aged  30. 

16.  Mary  Johnson  died,  aged  64. 

17.  Mrs.  Winfield  Farrell  died,  aged  48. 

21.  Nancy,  wife  of  Francis  Vail  died,  aged  42. 

22.  An  alarm  of  fire  caused  by  the  burning  of  a  cur¬ 
tain  at  the  Delavan  House . A  meeting  of  the  com¬ 

mon  council  was  called  with  a  view  to  loan  money  to 
the  Northern  rail  road;  but  a  number  of  them  declining 

to  go  up  stairs,  a  quorum  could  not  be  got . Dr. 

James  M,  Brown  died,  aged  50 . Eveline  Harvey 

died,  aged  17. ....  .Sarah  C.  wife  of  David  Patterson, 
died,  aged  32. 


330 


Annals  of  1854. 

23.  A  meeting  of  the  common  council  was  held  and  a 
loan  of  $30,000  voted  to  the  Albany  Northern  rail  road. 
. A  tire  about  12  o'clock  at  night  destroyed  a  shed 


belonging  to  the  Central  rail  road . Ann  Jane,  wife 

of  George  W.  Baker  died,  aged  24. 

24.  Thirty  four  cars,  containing  2,000  immigrants 
passed  up  the  Central  rail  road . Peter  Peck  died, 


aged  58 . Bridget  Quinn  died,  aged  66 . Philena 

Redden,  wife  of  A.  Vickers  died,  aged  20. . .  .John  Garey 
died,  aged  54 . Jonathan  Slawson  died,  aged  87. 

25.  Alida  Spears  died,  aged  33. 

26.  Eclipse  of  the  sun . The  Scotch  Presbyterian 

synod  resolved  to  abandon  the  use  of  the  title  of  D.  D. 

. A  German  immigrant  was  found  suspended  by  the 

neck  near  the  Buttermilk  falls;  verdict,  suicide . 

Bridget  Boyd  died,  aged  47.  ^ 

27.  Catharine  Feeney,  a  stranger,  was  drowned  by  fall¬ 
ing  into  the  river . Humphrey  C.  Watson,  formerly 

of  Albany,  died  at  La  Salle,  Ind.,  aged  31 . John 

Lahey  died,  aged  38 . Mr.  Bateman  died,  aged  90. 

28.  Two  cases  of  highway  robbery  in  the  heart  of  the 

city  during  the  night . Agnes,  wife  of  John  Anderson, 

died. 

29.  One  hundred  citizens  were  presented  by  the  police 

for  selling  liquors  on  the  sabbath . Sarah  widow  of 

the  late  Richard  Roser  died,  aged  81. 

30.  Robena  wife  of  Charles  J.  Edwards  died,  aged  22. 

. Mrs.  Catharine  Rankin,  wife  of  George  A.  Rankin 

died  at  Schodack,  aged  48. 

31.  John  Henry  Thorn  died,  aged  33 . Thomas 

Kirkpatrick  died,  aged  28. 

June. 

1.  George  Lochner  died,  aged  46. 

2.  Cornelia  Lansing,  daughter  of  the  late  Edward 
Livingston  of  Albany,  died  in  New  York. 

3.  George  F.  Delaplaine  died,  aged  68. 

4.  A  subscription  was  taken  up  in  the  Pearl  Street 
Baptist  church,  towards  building  an  edifice  for  a  congre- 


331 


Annals  of  1854. 

gation  of  German  Baptists,  to  be  located  in  the  upper 
part  of  Washington  street,  when  $2,200  was  raised  for 
that  purpose. 

5.  The  Albany  Northern  rail  road,  which  had  suspended 
business  in  part  since  April  in  consequence  of  a  break  in 
an  embankment,  now  recommenced  regular  trips  to  Eagle 

Bridge . Barent  Sanders  died,  aged  75 . James 

O’Brien  died,  aged  24. 

6.  Jane,  wife  of  Henry  Gibson,  died,  aged  24. 

7.  Catharine  Bullock,  wife  of  Samuel  H.  Lloyd,  died, 
aged  53. 

10.  The  law  against  the  running  at  large  of  swine 
began  to  be  enforced.  It  was  found  that  some  owners 
had  as  many  as  forty.  About  15,000  were  captured 

during  the  campaign . Anne  Gove,  wife  of  Ralph 

Smith  died . Bridget,  wife  of  Francis  McBarnett  died. 

11.  An  effort  made  to  close  the  shops  that  were  open 

on  Sundays  for  the  sale  of  spirituous  liquors . Robert 

Todd  died,  aged  61. 

13.  Sarah  F.  Welch  died. 

14.  Patrick  Bergen,  aged  22,  drowned  by  falling  from 

a  canal  boat . Clarissa  Prime  died,  aged  54. 

17.  Jane  C.,  wife  of  Joel  Munsell,  died,  aged  42. 

18.  A  fire  on  the  corner  of  Grand  and  Beaver  streets 
partially  destroyed  a  bakery  and  machine  shop.  Some 
of  the  inmates  saved  their  lives  by  jumping  from  their 
chamber  windows. 

19.  Joseph  T.  Rice  died,  aged  67 . George  A. 

Barnard  died,  aged  37 . John  Brown  died,  aged  23. 

21.  Anniversary  meeting  of  the  New  York  State  Tem¬ 
perance  Society,  at  the  Third  Presbyterian  Church. 

22.  Mrs.  Nancy  Northop  died,  aged  55 . Mrs.  Mary 

Ann,  wife  of  John  Costigan,  died. 

23.  Conrad  S.  Mayer,  long  a  resident  of  Albany,  died 
in  New  York. 

25.  A  train  of  69  cars,  laden  with  1380  cattle,  left  the 
depot  at  East  Albany  by  the  Hudson  River  rail  road,  for 
New  York.  The  bill  of  fare  was  $2070,  at  $1*50  a 
head. . Josiah  Clark  died,  aged  29. 

[Annals,  vi .]  29 


332 


Anna  ls  of  1854. 

26.  A  meeting  of  citizens  at  the  City  Hall  to  discuss 
the  water  rates,  which  they  thought  were  illegally 
assessed  in  some  eases. 

28.  Julia  Anne  Solway  died . Sarah,  wife  of  Royal 

Shaw,  died,  aged  45. 

29.  Ann  Lovatt  died,  aged  69. 

July. 

1.  James  H.  Horth  died,  aged  25. 

2.  Ichabod  Wood  died. 

4.  The  usual  ceremonies  of  the  day  were  observed,  and 

an  unusual  amount  of  the  lesser  fireworks  was  consumed. 
As  the  procession  completed  its  rounds,  the  thermometer 
stood  at  98°  in  the  shade . A  fire  broke  out  in  a 

Ik--- 

bakery  at  the  corner  of  State  and  Lark  streets . A 

great  number  of  persons  were  prostrated  by  the  heat, 

and  several  deaths  occurred . A  corps  of  about  50 

veterans  of  the  war  of  1812  joined  the  celebration  of  the 
day,  under  Brig.  Gen.  John  S.  Van  Rensselaer.  After 
the  procession  wras  dismissed  they  met  in  convention  at 

the  Capitol  and  passed  a  series  of  resolutions . W. 

D.  Winne  died,  aged  24. 

5.  A  fire  broke  out,  on  the  corner  of  Colonie  street 
and  the  Northern  rail  road,  which  partially  destroyed  the 

building . Tobias  Roach  committed  suicide  at  the 

Penitentiary  . . Catharine  Ann  Veeder,  wife  of  Peter 

R.  Carhart,  died,  aged  42. 

6.  A  grand  torch  light  procession  at  10  o’clock  in  the 
evening  by  the  firemen,  having  a  New  York  company  in 

escort . Julia  Filkins,  wife  of  Simeon  F.  Smith,  died. 

. Wm.  McClelland  died,  aged  35. 

7.  An  alarm  of  fire  caused  by  the  burning  of  a  box  of 
shavings. 

8.  There  were  44  sail  vessels  at  the  lumber  docks, 

which  was  not  an  unusual  number.  This  business  has 
taken  the  lead  of  all  others  during  the  past  ten  years,  in 
the  rapidity  of  its  increase. . Rabbi  Cohn,  a  distin¬ 

guished  priest  of  the  Hebrew  faith,  entered  upon  his 


333 


Annals  of  1854. 

ministry  in  the  South  Pearl  Street  S}nagogue,  recently 

vacated  by  Dr.  Wise . Wm.  S.  Archibald,  aged  35, 

committed  suicide  by  hanging  himself  to  one  of  the  posts 

of  his  bed  at  the  Phoenix  Hotel . Sarah,  wife  of  Wm. 

Don,  died,  aged  57 . Sarah  Goodrich,  wife  of  Samuel 

G.  Payn,  died,  aged  39. 

9.  Jane,  wife  of  Charles  Whitney,  died,  aged  60 . 

James  W.  Turner  died,  aged  31. 

10.  An  alarm  of  fire,  caused  by  the  burning  of  a  build¬ 
ing  in  Bath. ....  .Five  persons 'died  of  cholera  in  one 
family  of  the  name  of  Wylie,  in  South  Pearl  street,  and 

wTere  buried  at  one  funeral . Benj.  F.  Knower  died, 

aged  19 . Mrs.  Ellen  Harrison  .died  at  Harmony, 

Chautauque  county,  aged  56,  formerly  of  Albany. 

1 1.  William  Dowd,  aged  63,  and  Louisa,  his  wife,  aged 
56,  died. 

12.  Thomas  M.  Ward  died,  aged  26 . Samuel 

Barstow,  formerly  of  Albany,  died  at  Buffalo,  aged  42. 

13.  A  fire  in  Clinton  street  partially  destroyed  several 

buildings  at  5  o’clock  in  the  morning . Walter 

Cowell  died,  aged  44 . Sarah,  wife  of  Samuel  War¬ 
den  died . William  Cooney,  formerly  of  Albany,  died 

at  Brooklyn,  aged  51 . Gad  Townsley  died. 

14.  A  painter  by  the  name  of  Barnacle,  engaged  in 
painting  the  Hospital,  fell  from  the  ladder,  about  25  feet, 
and  died  of  the  shock  during  the  night. 

15.  Wm.  Meadon  died,  aged  41 . James  Connolly 

died. 

17.  Joseph  E.  Gates  died,  aged  30.... Adam  Stewart 
died,  aged  40. 

18.  An  alarm  of  fire  at  9  o’clock  in  the  evening  caused 
by  the  partial  burning  of  a  soap  and  candle  factory  in 

South  Lansing  street . Susan,  wife  of  Philip  Ford, 

died,  aged  69. 

19.  Thermometer  at  96;  several  cases  of  prostration 

by  the  heat  of  the  sun . Elizabeth  Adrian,  wife  of 

Arthur  A.  Smith,  died,  aged  28. 

20.  Col.  Robt.  E.  Temple,  adjutant  general  of  the  state, 
died,  aged  about  50.  He  served  with  distinguished 


334 


Annals  of  1854. 

gallantry  in  the  Florida  war,  and  commanded  the  New 
York  regiment  of  volunteers  in  the  Mexican  war.  The 
change  of  the  line  of  active  operations  from  the  Rio 
Grande  to  Vera  Cruz  and  Mexico,  deprived  him  of  an 
opportunity  of  distinguishing  himself,  and  the  troops 
which  he  had  brought  into  the  highest  discipline,  in  battle. 
He  suffered,  however,  from  the  climate,  and  his  naturally 
vigorous  constitution  was  laid  open,  by  a  prostrating  and 
almost  fatal  fever,  to  the  inroads  of  consumption,  of 
which  he  died. — Atlas. ......  .Thermometer  at  100°  in 

the  shade,  and  the  earth  suffering  from  a  long  drought. 

. Abigail  Coveil,  wife  of  R.  Churchill,  formerly  of 

Albany,  died  in  New  York,  aged  66,  and  was  buried  from 


the  North  Pearl  Street  Baptist  Church . Harriet,  wife 

of  Lyman  Chapin,  died  in  Buffalo. 

21.  P.  T.  Hewitt,  convicted  of  incest  with  his  daughter, 
was  sentenced  to  ten  years’  imprisonment . Charles 


McDuffie  died,  aged  27 . Wm.  A.  McGraw  died, 

aged  18  J . Thermometer  100®  in  the  shade. 

22.  The  water  was  so  low  in  the  river  that  a  fleet  of 

laden  vessels  awaited  a  rise  before  they  could  venture 
down  the  river . Thomas  Charles  died,  aged  61. 

23.  A  shower  moistened  the  parched  earth,  which  had 
•scarcely  been  watered  in  a  month.  .^. .  .  .Elizabeth  McKay 

died . Zaccheus  Aldrich  died,  aged  73 . Nancy, 

wife  of  John  Goodrich,  died. 

24.  A  tremendous  rain  fell  during  the  forenoon ;  the 

rain  guage  indicated  more  than  two  inches . Thomas 

Gordon  died,  aged  66 . Harriet,  wife  of  Hugh  Rock, 

died,  aged  61. 

25.  The  Board  of  Health  reported  29  cases  of  cholera 

and  11  deaths  for  the  last  three  and  a  half  days . 

The  $300,000  loan  on  the  bonds  of  the  city  for  the  use 
of  the  Albany  Northern  rail  road,  was  taken  at  a  pre¬ 
mium.  It  has  25  years  to  run,  at  6  six  per  cent . 

George  Brainard  died,  aged  44. 

26.  John  Cummings  died,  aged  56 . John  McCol¬ 

lum  died. 

27.  Wm.  Serviss  died,  aged  53 
Donald  died,  aged  31. 


Thomas  C.  Me 


335; 


Annals  of  1854. 

28.  Cholera  on  the  increase . An  alarm  of  fire  in 

the  evening  caused  by  the  burning  of  a  pig-sty  in  Canal 
street. 

29.  Report  of  cholera  for  3  days,  95  cases,  37  deaths. 

. Chauncey  Johnson,  formerly  of  Albany,  died  at 

Rastrop,  in  Texas,  aged  56 . Sarah,  wife  of  S.  F. 

Phelps,  died . Lucy,  wife  of  James  McNutt,  died, 

aged  38 . Rachel,  wife  of  Abraham  Johnson,  died, 

aged  53. 

30.  A  fire  at  5  o’clock  in  the  morning  destroyed  the 
interior  of  the  turnery  establishment  of  Foote  &  Merri- 
field,  corner  of  James  street  and  Maiden  lane.  .....  Mar¬ 
garet,  wife  of  Theodore  Goodrich,  died,  aged  36. 

31.  James  Dowd  died,  aged  21 . Mrs.  Sarah  Pink¬ 
erton  died,  aged  73 . John  Sipple  died,  aged  74.  • 

August. 

1.  The  cholera  was  very  fatal  at  this  time,  and  the 
authorities,  in  their  zeal  for  cleanliness,  made  an  onslaught 
upon  the  hog-pens.  It  was  the  most  determined  move¬ 
ment  ever  made  in  that  direction  in  this  city,  where  the 
hog  has  had  the  freedom  of  the  streets  from  time 

immemorial . Benjamin  Tullidge,  formerly  of  Albany, 

died  in  Indiana,  aged  75 . Malvina,  wife  of  Gilbert 

W.  Barnham,  died,  aged  35. 

2.  As  workmen  were  removing  the  rear  wall  of  St. 

Paul’s  church  for  repairs,  a  quantity  of  brick  and  timber 
which  had  been  placed  over  the  ceiling  came  down,  des¬ 
troying  the  pulpit  and  other  fixtures . The  report  of 

cholera  for  4  days  was  60  cases,  26  deaths . The 

Hendrik  Hudson  got  on  a  bar  and  did  not  arrive  till 

noon;  water  very  low . Thomas  B.  Washington,  a 

grandnephew  of  General  Washington,  died  suddenly  in 
this  city,  aged  40;  he  was  on  his  return  to  Virginia. 

. John  Harrison  died,  aged  53. . .  .  .Peter  H.  Ry- 

ther  died  aged  56 . John  W.  Campbell  died,  aged  37. 


4.  Christopher  B.  Groat  died,  aged  30 . Christina, 

widow  of  the  late  Thomas  Lee,  died,  aged  60 . Ber- 


336 


Annals  of  1854. 

nard  Brady  died,  aged  37 . George  Young  died,  aged 

45 . Mrs.  Ellen  Arnold  died,  aged  53. 

5.  The  board  of  health  reported  86  cases  of  cholera, 

28  of  which  were  fatal,  for  the  last  3  days . Presi¬ 

dent  Pierce  vetoed  the  harbor  bill,  which  appropriated 
$50,000  for  the  improvement  of  the  river  near  Albany 

. Thomas  Fryer  died,  aged  86 . Elizabeth  Gar- 

denier  died,  aged  88 . Mrs.  Elizabeth  Squires  died, 

aged  61. 

6.  Rev.  J.  N.  Hill,  from  Dover  Plains,  having  accepted 
an  invitation  from  the  South  Baptist  church  corner  of 
Franklin  and  Herkimer  streets,  entered  upon  his  ministry. 
. Four  prisoners  escaped  from  the  Jail  by  digging 


through  the  wall . Catharine,  wife  of  Abraham  Key- 

ser,  died,  aged  69 . Mary  McLean  died,  aged  20. 


. F.  W.  Clarkson  died. 

7.  The  common  council  decided  to  widen  Patroon 
street  from  North  Pearl  to  Broadway.  t  «  . .  .Francis  E. 
Wands  died. 

8.  The  Hospital  opened  on  the  corner  of  Eagle  and 
Howard  streets,  the  old  Jail  having  been  fitted  up  with 
great  convenience  and  appropriate  taste  for  that  purpose. 
Since  the  Hospital  opened  in  1851,  it  has  received  417 
patients. 

10.  The  old  Hospital  building  in  Lydius  street  was 

opened  as  a  cholera  hospital. ....  Jacob  Morris  died, 
aged  51 . William  Backhaus,  a  teacher  of  the  Ger¬ 

man  language,  died. 

11.  Elizabeth,  wife  of  Francis  Sims,  died,  aged  79. 
. Isaac  J.  Lagrange  died. 

12.  Cholera  abated;  7  deaths  since  9th  at  noon . 


Jeremiah  P.  Jewell  died,  aged  72 . Rev.  Joel  Hun¬ 
tington,  of  Chittenango  died,  aged  20 . Mary  Ann 


Ten  Eyck  died . William  Boughton  died,  aged  67. 

13.  A  fire  in  the  evening  at  the  corner  of  Montgomery 
and  De  Witt  streets  destroyed  a  dozen  wooden  buildings. 

14.  Evert  Van  Allen,  an  ancient  city  surveyor,  whose 
map  of  the  city  is  so  much  referred  to  in  title  deeds,  died. 
. Durrell  Williams,  a  revolutionary  soldier,  died, 


337 


Annals  of  1854. 

aged  90,  and  was  buried  with  military  honors . Jane 

Tilleo  died,  aged  40 . Ebenezer  Wright  died,  aged  72. 

15.  An  alarm  of  fire  at  night,  proceeding  from  the 
burning  of  a  quantity  of  cut  wood  in  Guilderland;  1700 

cords  were  burnt,  valued  at  $10,000 . Walter  Froth- 

ingham  died,  aged  28 . Henry  Van  Reenen  died. 

..... .Eliza  H.,  wife  of  Erastus  H.  Munson,  died,  aged  44. 

16.  The  body  of  Philip  Helderbrant,  aged  25,  was 

found  floating  in  the  river . Bridget  Costigan  died, 

aged  76. 

17.  Henry  S.  Brainerd  died,  aged  60. 

18.  Mr.  Edwin  Croswell,  who  had  been  connected  with 
the  Albany  Argus  since  1824,  it  is  believed,  announced 
that  he  had  withdrawn  from  the  paper,  and  had  been 

succeeded  by  Mr.  G.  F.  Tucker . John  L.  Philips  died, 

aged  18. 

19.  A  fire  at  night  destroyed  several  buildings  corner 
of  Cherry  and  Franklin  streets. 

20.  Catharine  Bryan,  widow  of  the  late  John  Bryan, 

died  in  New  York,  aged  81 . John  H.  Simons  died, 

aged  48. 

21.  Julia  S.  Meads  died,  aged  37. 

22.  A  dense  smoke  hung  over  the  city  occasioned  by 
the  burning  of  the  bush  between  this  city  and  Schenectady. 
The  long  drought  had  prepared  the  woods  for  fires,  and 

they  were  raging  in  many  places . R.  Sherman, 

captain  of  a  canal  boat,  fell  overboard  and  was  drowned. 

23.  Mrs.  Bridget  McCluskeyand  her  sister  and  daugh¬ 

ter,  the  last  of  the  family  of  Paul  McCluskey,  died  of 
cholera — himself  and  two  children  having  died  a  few  days 
before . Eliza,  wife  of  Lewis  Gates,  died,  aged  45. 

24.  Elizabeth,  wife  of  James  Woods,  died,  aged  78. 

. . Mrs.  Harriet,  widow  of  David  L.  Groesbeck,  died, 

aged  78 . John  Yan  Valkenburgh,  formerly  of  Albany, 

died  at  Cincinnati,  aged  64. 

25.  The  alarm  of  fire  brought  out  the  engines.  It  was 

found  to  be  in  Troy,  and  several  companies  went  up. 
At  the  same  time  two  fires  were  raging  in  the  woods 
northeasterly  from  this  city . Laura  Ney,  wife  of 


338 


Annals  of  1854. 

Jacob  C.  Cuyler,  died,  aged  27 . .Patrick  Sheahan 

died,  aged  60. 

26.  The  rain  began  to  fall  in  the  afternoon,  checking 
the  fires  near  the  city,  which  had  consumed  a  large 

quantity  of  wood  in  the  vicinity . John  Townsend 

died,  aged  72.  He  was  the  son  of  Henry  Townsend,  and 
was  born  at  the  Sterling  Iron  Works,  in  Warwick,  Orange 
county.  In  1802  he  came  to  Albany  in  the  capacity  of 
clerk  to  his  brother  Isaiah,  who  had  established  himself 
here  four  years  before,  and  with  whom  he  afterwards 
became  a  partner.  They  prosecuted  a  successful  hard¬ 
ware  and  iron  foundry  business.  They  were  connected 
with  the  Albany  and  Troy  Nail  Works,  and  in  connection 
with  the  late  VVilliam  James  and  others  were  the  first  to 
commence  the  manufacture  of  salt  at  Syracuse  by  solar 
evaporation.  In  1810,  he  married  a  daughter  of  the  late 
Ambrose  Spencer,  who  bore  him  thirteen  children,  and 
died  in  1849.  He  was  mayor  of  the  city  in  1829,  1830 
and  1832,  and  at  the  time  of  his  death  was  president  of 
the  Commercial  Bank,  of  the  board  of  Water  Commis¬ 
sioners,  of  the  Albany  Exchange  Company,  of  the  Albany 
Savings  Bank,  of  the  Albany  Pier  Company,  of  the  Syra¬ 
cuse  Coarse  Salt  Company,  of  the  Watervliet  Turnpike 
Company,  and  acting  president  of  the  Albany  Insurance 
Company.  He  retired  from  active  business  several  years 
previous  to  his  death,  and  for  the  last  two  or  three  years 
not  only  age  but  disease  had  made  perceptible  inroads 
upon  the  vigor  of  his  constitution.  He  died  at  his  resi¬ 
dence  in  State  street,  in  the  full  possession  of  his  intel¬ 
lectual  faculties,  and  surrounded  by  all  his  children.  He 
left  behind  him  the  memory  of  a  faithful  and  energetic 
public  officer,  a  liberal  and  patriotic  citizen,  an  intelligent 
and  enterprising  merchant,  a  kind  and  affectionate  hus¬ 
band  and  father,  an  urbane  and  courteous  gentleman,  and 
an  honest  man . William  W.  Forsyth  died,  aged  41. 

27.  Rev.  Wm.  B.  Lacy,  D.  D.,  formerly  rector  .of  St. 
Peter’s  church,  now  of  Jackson,  Mississippi,  preached  two 
sermons  in  the  pulpit  which  he  vacated  twenty-two  years 
before.  Most  of  the  congregation  however,  whose  spiritual 


mrn 


Annals  of  1854.  339 

\ 

teacher  he  then  was,  had  passed  away,  and  his  eye 
could  have  rested  upon  but  few  familiar  faces . The 


Rev.  Wm.  B.  Sprague,  D.  D.,  of  the  Second  Presbyterian 
church,  preached  his  twenty-fifth  anniversary  sermon, 
and  made  an  interesting  review  of  his  ministry.  Not  one 
of  the  pastors  who  then  had  charge  of  the  churches  of 
the  city  remained  in  their  places;  and  of  his  own  con¬ 
gregation  representatives  of  only  thirty-four  families  re¬ 
mained.  Only  one  of  the  original  officers  of  the  church, 
Mr.  Nathaniel  Davis,  survived,  and  the  president  of  the 
board  of  trustees,  Mr.  Joseph  Alexander  was  more  than 
ninety  years  of  age. 

28.  An  alarm  of  fire  caused  by  the  burning  of  a  barn 
and  bake  house  of  the  Orphan  Asylum,  which  were 
thought  to  have  been  fired  by  an  incendiary;  loss  about 

$600 . The  funeral  of  John  Townsend  took  place, 

which  was  attended  by  a  very  large  number  of  citizens, 
and  the  shops  were  mostly  closed  during  the  passing  of 
the  procession . A  number  of  ladies  prepared  a  ban¬ 

ner  for  the  Washington  Continentals,  which  was  pre¬ 
sented  to  them  by  Capt.  David  Hitchcock  in  front  of  his 
residence  in  Ferry  street . At  a  sale  of  Bank  of  Al¬ 

bany  stock  at  the  Exchange,  50  shares  sold  at  $1’75;  30 

shares  at  $1*66;  lOshares  at  $1*65 . Wm.  A.  Tweed 

Dale,  the  principal  for  a  long  time  and  the  only  one,  of 

the  Lancaster  school  in  this  city,  died,  aged  79 . 

Mary  Brown  died,  aged  50. 

29.  A  large  number  of  citizens  met  at  the  City  Hall 
to  receive  a  company  of  300  N ew  England  emigrants  bound 
for  Kansas,  who  were  expected  by  the  evening  train. 
The  train  was  delayed,  and  did  not  arrive  till  11  o'clock, 
and  the  meeting  adjourned  to  the  Delavan  House,  where 
an  enthusiastic  reception  was  given  to  the  strangers. 
. John  Cullin  died,  aged  53. 

31.  A  fire  at  half-past  three  in  the  morning  partially 
destroyed  the  Salamander  Works  of  Messrs.  Henry,  Van 
Allen  &  Palmer. 


340  Annals  of  1854. 

September. 

1.  The  receipts  of  the  Isaac  Newton  for  the  trip  on 
this  night  were  computed  as  follows  by  the  JSew  York 


Tribune: 

450  passengers  at  $1  each . $450 

Berths  and  state  rooms . 320 

Freight . 393 


1163 

Expenses  of  the  boat  estimated  at.. . . 200 


Profits  of  a  single  trip . $963 

Jacob  Burhans  died,  aged  38. 


2.  Mrs.  Anna  Ward  Dryden  died,  aged  67. 

3.  Miss  Caroline  Woodb  ridge  died. 

4.  The  supreme  court  met  at  the  Capitol  with  184 

causes  on  the  calendar . The  sum  of  $2100  was 

raised  by  plate  collection  at  the  five  Catholic  houses  of 
worship  in  this  city,  towards  establishing  a  hospital  for 
orphans  who  lost  their  parents  by  cholera  during  the 
summer . Mrs.  Mary  A.  Drain  died,  aged  62. 

5.  The  Burgesses  Corps,  accompanied  by  Jones’  band, 
left  the  city  for  Chatham,  with  full  ranks,  for  target 

exercise . A  middle  aged  man  was  found  in  the  basin, 

with  the  appearance  of  having  been  some  time  drowned. 

. The  house  of  Mrs.  McDuffy,  in  Lydius  street,  west 

of  Lark,  wTas  assaulted  by  armed  men  at  an  early  hour  in 

the  morning,  who  fired  through  the  windows . The 

theatre  had  been  recently  reopened,  after  several  failures, 
and  exhibited  such  a  beggarly  account  of  vacant  benches 
at  this,  the  second  night  of  performance,  that  the  doors 
were  closed  at  the  end  of  the  plays,  not  to  be  opened  again. 
. Isaac  White  died,  aged  45. 

6.  A  heavy  shower  of  rain,  accompanied  by  inces¬ 
sant  lightning,  during  which  two  barns  were  destroyed, 
one  north,  the  other  south  of  the  city,  sufficiently  near  to 

callout  the  engines . Mrs.  Elizabeth  Fero,  wife  of 

Sidney  S.  Cantor  died,  aged  36 . Jeremiah  Schuyler 

died,  aged  83. 


341 


Annals  of  1854. 

7.  Powell’s  painting,  representing  the  discovery  of  the 
Mississippi  by  De  Soto,  executed  for  the  Capitol  at 

Washington,  was  opened  for  exhibition  in  this  city . 

The  front  wall  of  Orcutt's  pottery  in  Hamilton  street, 

fell  out  with  a  great  crash, . Mrs.  Dorothy  Austin, 

widow  of  the  late  William  Austin,  died,  aged  69. 

8.  Mrs.  Sarah  Cummings  died,  aged  64 . Mary, 

wife  of  Patrick  Cassidy,  died,  aged  50 . Nancy  Me 

Gee  died,  aged  57.. , . . .  .Isaac  V.  L.  Meigs,  formerly  of 
Albany,  died  at  Addison,  Steuben  county,  aged  32. 

9.  C.  V.  S.  Kane,  son  of  the  late  Elias  Kane,  of  Albany, 

died  in  New  York . John  Leddy  died,  aged  23. 

1 1.  Samuel  Stevens,  an  eminent  Albany  attorney,  died 
in  Rochester,  aged  56.  He  was  a  native  of  Washington 
county,  took  the  front  rank  of  his  profession  for  more  than 
twenty-five  years,  and  during  that  period  no  other  mem¬ 
ber  of  the  bar  performed  more  hard  mental  labor  than 
he,  or  was  engaged  in  more  important  causes. 

12.  The  Washington  Continentals  made  an  excursion 
to  Hudson,  accompanied  by  a  numerous  retinue  of  women 
and  children,  occupying  three  barges,  towed  by  the  steam¬ 
boat  Anna.  The  squadron  was  greeted  by  the  ringing  of 

bells  and  booming  of  cannon  along  the  river . The 

body  of  James  Crosby,  of  Albany,  aged  25,  was  found 
drowned  in  New  York,  at  the  foot  of  Robinson  street. 

. Henry  Jackson  died,  aged  59. 

13.  An  alarm  of  fire,  caused  by  the  burning  of  a  shed 
on  the  pier. 

16.  A  fire  slightly  damaged  a  house  corner  of  Rose  and 
Hamilton  streets,  at  2  o’clock  in  the  morning. 

17.  John  Bew  died,  aged  48. 

18.  The  Northern  rail  road  office  was  changed  from 
the  corner  of  Water  and  Steuben  streets,  to  the  corner 

of  Dean  street  and  Maiden  lane . Catharine  E.  Cath- 

cart  died,  aged  29. 

19.  A  company  of  exempt  firemen  arrived  from  New 
York  and  were  received  by  Neptune  Engine  Gompany. 
They  went  out  to  Cedar  Hill  for  a  target  .exercise  with 
rifles. 

20.  Juliet  Lewis  died,  aged  75,  the  last  of  the  name, 


342 


Annals  of  1854, 

of  the  descendants  of  Robert  Lewis,  famous  as  the  keeper 
of  Lewis’s  tavern,  Corner  of  State  and  Pearl  streets. 

21.  Robert  T.  Courtney,  late  of  Albany,  died  at 
Clarkson,  Monroe  county. 

23.  John  W.  Chapman,  late  of  Albany,  died  in  Ohio, 
aged  55. 

24.  The  police  officers  went  up  to  the  Shaker  village 
to  arrest  gunners  who  violated  the  laws,  on  Sundays  in 
hunting  game  and  disturbing  the  neighborhood. 

25.  Mrs.  Matilda  P.  Hill,  wife  of  Rev.  J.  N.  Hill,  died, 
.....  .Ellen,  wife  of  Win.  J.  Felthousen,  died,  aged  50. 

27.  The  county  fair  opened  at  the  Washington  Parade 

Ground,  attracting  a  large  concourse  of  people . S. 

M.  Woodruff,  late  an  attorney  in  this  city,  was  lost  in  the 
Arctic  off  Cape  Race,  on  his  return  from  England, 

28.  The  county  fair  closed  with  a  display  of  female 
equestrianism  in  which  Miss  Lawton,  of  Coeymans,  took 
the  first  prize,  a  silver  goblet  valued  at  $18.  The  receipts 
into  the  treasury  were  $3670. 

29.  The  common  council  elected  C.  W.  Bender  city 

chamberlain . Rev.  Dr.  Horatio  Potter,  of  St.  Peter’s 

church,  was  elected  provisional  bishop  of  the  diocese  of 

New  York . Hector  PI.  Crane  died,  aged  23 . 

Ezra  Cronkhite  died. 

30.  The  water  in  the  river  was  so  low  that  the  large 

boats  grounded . Joseph  Courtney  died,  aged  53; 

James  Taylor  died,  aged  58;  Hiram  Milhain  died,  aged 
28  These  citizens  died  in  a  neighborhood,  of  cholera, 
when  it  was  supposed  the  disease  had  entirely  ceased  from 
its  work  here. 

October. 

3.  William  Wright  died,  aged  27 . John  Ryder 

died,  aged  41. 

4.  A  laborer  named  Peter  Green  was  killed  in  Washing¬ 
ton  street  by  the  caving  in  of  the  sides  of  a  drain  in  which 
he  was  at  work. 

6.  Elizabeth  Mulholland  died,  aged  44. 

9.  The  Burgesses  Corps  celebrated  its  21st  anniversary 
by  a  supper  in  the  Capitol,  on  which  occasion  a  splen- 


Annals  of  1854.  343 

did  cane  was  presented  to  John  0.  Cole,  the  first  captain 
of  the  company . Michael  Ryan  died. 

10.  At  an  election  of  officers  of  the  Burgesses  Corps, 

B.  R.  Spelman  was  reelected  captain . Rebecca 

Wood  died, -aged  49 . John  McHaffie  died  aged  53. 

11.  Walter  Marshall  died  at  Chicago. 

12.  Eunice,  wife  of  John  Hinkley,  died  aged  76. 

13.  Mary  Andrews  died,  aged  35. 

14.  A  bear  was  shot  within  11  miles  of  the  city,  and 
brought  in  as  a  rarity. 

15.  The  fine-toned  bell  of  the  Congregational  church 
cracked  while  being  rung  for  morning  service,  and  became 

useless  thereby . Catharine  M.,  widow  of  the  late 

Col.  Robert  E.  Temple,  and  last  surviving  daughter  of 

the  late  William  James,  died,  aged  34 . .Robert  G. 

Poyner  died,  aged  23 . John  Taylor  died,  aged  70. 

16.  James  Manton  died,  an  officer  of  the  Albany  Scotch 
Light  Infantry. ....  .Hannah  E.,  wife  of  Abram  J.  La 
Grange,  died  29. 

17.  A  party  of  300  New  England  emigrants  to  Kansas 
arrived  in  the  city  by  the  rail  road,  and  remained  through 
the  night  at  the  Delavan  House. . .  .Ellen  A.,  wife  of 

Peter  A.  Cassidy,  died,  aged  19 . Richard  Home  died.. 

. Lucy  Oakey  died,  aged  95,  relict  of  the  late  Ab¬ 
ram  Oakey. 

18.  A  new  bell  was  raised  into  the  steeple  of  the  Con¬ 
gregational  church,  weighing  2,020  lbs.,  key  F,  to  supply 
the  place  of  the  one  cracked  on  the  Sunday  preceding. 
. Mary,  wife  of  Wendell  M.  Bender,  died,  aged  31. 

19.  A  very  thin  carpet  of  snow  lay  upon  the  streets  at 
an  early  hour  in  the  morning,  and  the  hills  around  the 

city  were  white  until  Monday . Thomas  Wood 

drowned. 

21.  Maria,  wife  of  Peter  Moakley,  died,  aged  57. 

22.  Amos  Avery  died,  aged  49. 

23.  Joseph  Courtney  died,  aged  22. . .  .  .  .Ellen  Barrett 
died  31. 

24.  Harris  Aldrich  died,  aged  45. 

25.  Capt.  McLean,  one  of  the  old  commanders  of  the- 

[ Annals,  vi.]  30 


344  Annals  of  1854. 

People’s  line  of  steam  boats,  died  in  New  York,  aged  54. 

. Andrew  Vandenbergh,  sexton  of  Middle  Dutch 

church,  died. 

26.  Joseph  Elliott  died. 

27.  Thomas  Wilson  died,  aged  48. 

28.  Mrs.  Almira  Waterman,  wife  of  Wm.  T.  Meech, 

died,  aged  25 . John  McCloskey  died,  aged  34 . 

Arthur  Campbell  died,  aged  25. 

29.  A  German  Baptist  mission  church  was  dedicated 

in  Washington  street.  The  house  was  incapable  of  con¬ 
taining  all  who  sought  admittance . A  man  much 

intoxicated  went  into  the  Bethel  and  created  a  disturb¬ 
ance;  he  was  with  much  difficulty  ejected. 

31.  A  fire  damaged  the  distillery  of  H.  Knowlton  to 

the  amount  of  one  thousand  dollars . Mrs.  Hannah, 

widow  of  the  late  Isaiah  Townsend,  died  at  West  Point, 

aged  71. ...  .  .Mary  A.  Winn  died,  aged  67 . John  M. 

Hague  died,  aged  20. 


November. 

f.  George  Rowe  died,  aged  30. 

3.  William  G.  Akin,  late  of  Albany,  died  at  Chicago, 
aged  24. 

5.  Rev.  Dr.  Wyekoff,  entering  upon  the  eighteenth 
year  of  his  ministry  in  the  Second  Dutch  church,  reviewed 
the  events  connected  with  his  office  during  that  period. 
All  the  consistory  by  whom  he  was  chosen  were  still 
living,  and  all  but  two  present.  The  number  of  com¬ 
municants  had  increased  from  150  to  584  under  his  charge. 

7.  A  fire  destroyed  the  contents  of  a  grocery,  corner 
Dallius  and  Schuyler  streets ;  loss  $  1000 . Wm.  Walsh 


died,  aged  52 . Eliza,  wife  of  James  S.  Wood,  died, 

aged  26 . Mrs.  Elizabeth  Hamilton,  widow  of  Gen. 


Alexander  Hamilton,  and  daughter  of  Philip  Schuyler, 
died  at  Washington,  aged  97.  She  was  bprn  at  Albany 
on  the  9th  of  August,  1757,  and  was  married  in  1780. 
“Death,  which  has  so  long  spared  the  widow  of  General 
Alexander  Hamilton  to  be  venerated  by  Americans  of  the 
present  generation  as  a  noble  representative  of  the  women 


345 


Annals  of  1854. 

of  Revolutionary  times,  has  at  last  ceased  to  spare.  Mrs. 
Hamilton  died  at  her  residence  in  Washington  on  Tues- 
last,  at  the  advanced  age  of  ninety-seven  years,  in  full 
possession  of  all  her  mental  faculties,  and  attended  by 
her  loving  and  beloved  children.  Mrs.  Hamilton  was 
the  daughter  of  General  Phillip  Schuyler,  of  this  state, 
whose  services  in  the  Revolutionary  war  form  a  marked 
page  in  the  history  of  the  United  States.  She  was  bom 
in  the  old  Schuyler  mansion,  at  Albany,  on  the  9th  of 
August,  1757,  and  in  1780  married  Alexander  Hamilton, 
then  a  colonel  in  the  United  States  army,  and  one  of  the 
aids  to  General  Washington.  How  this  colonel  rose  to 
the  rank  of  a  general  and  became  also  one  of  the  most 
illustrious  statesmen  of  his  country,  is  well  known  to  our 
readers,  and  the  deserved  eulogium  of  Mrs.  Hamilton  is 
that  she  was  a  wife  worthy  of  such  a  husband.  After 
the  death  of  General  Hamilton  in  July,  1804,  Mrs. 
Hamilton  resided  for  some  time  in'New  York  and  devoted 
her  life  to  acts  of  benevolence.  She  was  one  of  the 
founders  of  the  New  York  Orphan  Society,  and  was  for 
many  years  its  presiding  officer. 

During  her  residence  at  Washington,  Mrs.  Hamilton 
had  weekly  reception  mornings  when  she  welcomed  her 
friends,  but  she  seldom  went  herself  into  general  society. 
The  death  of  Mrs.  Hamilton  was  caused  by  no  marked 
disease,  but  the  gradual  decay  of  the  vital  powers  pro¬ 
duced  alone  by  extreme  age.  Her  remains  have  been 
brought  to  this  city,  and  the  funeral  will  take  place  this 
afternoon  at  one  o’clock,  at  Trinity  church.  With  Mrs. 
Hamilton  passes  away  the  last,  we  believe,  of  the  dis¬ 
tinguished  women  of  the  American  Revolution. — N.  Y. 
Courier  and  Enquirer. 

8.  Egbert  Wheeler  died,  aged  26. . Ann  Potter, 

wife  of  Horatio  Roberts,  died. 

9.  George  Madden  died,  aged  53. 

10.  Enoch  Leonard  Hart,  formerly  of  Albany,  died  at 
Adrian.  Mich.;  son  of  Herman  V.  Hart. 

1 1.  Capt.  Geo.  E.  Seymour,  so  long  known  as  the  com¬ 
mander  of  the  steam  boat  New  Philadelphia,  died  suddenly 


346 


Annals  of  1854. 

at  Hudson,  where  he  was  engaged  in  the  hardware 
business  since  the  hauling  off  of  his  boat. 

13.  The  common  council  increased  the  pay  of  the 

police,  and  directed  a  new  style  of  costume . Mrs. 

Barina  Clapp  died,  aged  65. 

15.  Thomas  Kearney  died,  aged  23  . Lewis  Far¬ 
rell  died,  aged  75 . John  Hendrickson  died,  aged  57,. 

16.  Robert  G.  Burbank  died,  aged  40. 

17.  Wm.  Nessle  died,  aged  40 . Bernard  Ryan  died, 

aged  75. 

22.  Horatio  Potter,  D.  D.,  of  St.  Peter’s  church,  was 
installed  bishop  of  the  diocese  in  the  city  of  New  York, 

with  imposing  ceremonies . A  fire  corner  of  Mulberry 

and  Church  streets  destroyed  the  contents  of  a  grocery 
:store,  at  half  past  three  in  the  morning. 

23.  John  Jones  died,  aged  64 . Mrs.  Jane  Manning 

died,  aged  64. 

24.  Elisha  Mack  died,  aged  71. 

25.  Eliakim  Ford,  Jr.,  died,  aged  45. 

30.  Rebecca,  widow  of  George  Wilcox,  died,  aged  60. 

December. 

3.  Snow  fell  of  a  sufficient  depth  to  make  sleighing;  the 
first  of  the  season.  It  was  accompanied  by  a  severe  wind, 
which  did  great  damage  to  vessels  navigating  the  Hudson. 

4.  The  canals  were  effectually  closed. 

5.  Fire  on  Arbor  Hill  destroyed  the  grocery  store  of 

S.  W.  King,  loss  about  $10,000 . Only  one  steam  boat 

came  up  the  river;  it  returned  with  much  difficulty 

through  the  floating  ice  . Sarah  F.,  wife  of  James 

Hill,  died,  aged  35. 

6.  Francis  McCafferty  died,  aged  49 . John  Hoy 

died,  aged  70. 

7.  The  steam  boat  Hero  forced  its  way  up  to  the  city 
through  the  ice,  and  took  a  load  of  freight  down  in  the 
afternoon.  She  only  reached  four-mile  point,  however, 
when  the  ice  became  so  strong  that  further  progress  was 

impossible.  The  river  had  been  open  269  days . 

Hannah,  wife  of  David  Wall,  died,  aged  68. 


Annals  of  1854. 


34T 


8.  Joab  Stafford  died,  aged  53 . Annie  Vosburgk 

died,  aged  19 . Michael  Forrester  died,  aged  63. 

9.  The  river  was  crossed  by  persons  on  foot  with 

safety . A  fire  was  discovered  at  an  early  hour  in  the 

house  known  as  the  Schuyler  Mansion,  head  of  Schuyler 

street,  which  was  subdued  without  much  loss . Agnes 

Woolensack  died,  aged  78 . John  Story  died,  aged  83 

. Mrs.  Fulka  McCready  died,  aged  82. 

10.  A  fire  damaged  the  upper  story  of  a  building 

corner  of  Broadway  and  Bleecker  streets . Another 

injured  the  goods  of  a  store  on  the  Quay. 

13.  A  fire  destroyed  a  large  store  on  the  dock  above 

State  street . A  meeting  of  the  stockholders  of  the 

Central  rail  road  was  held,  at  which  Erastus  Corning 
was  reelected  president,  and  J.  V.  L.  Pruyn,  secretary 
and  treasurer. 

16.  Wm.  Kearney  died,  aged  78 . Margaret  Haga- 

man  died,  aged  22. 

18.  The  steam  boat  Norwich,  from  Kingston,  reached 
the  dock  before  5  o’clock  in  the  morning;  having  forced 
her  way  through  the  strong  ice  which  extended  below 
Catskill.  The  boat  was  much  damaged,  the  wheels  being 
completely  broken  up.  It  is  believed  that  no  boat  ever 
made  such  a  voyage.  It  was  said  that  the  news  of 
a  heavy  tow,  lying  here  waiting  to  go  down,  induced 

the  officers  of  the  boat  to  undertake  the  voyage . 

The  demolition  of  the  Old  State  Hall  corner  of  State  and 
Lodge  streets  was  begun.  The  quantity  of  stone  and 
bricks  which  it  developed  astonished  modern  builders 

. Nancy,  wife  of  George  E.  Rice,  died,  aged  29 

. Richard  Dillow  died,  aged  46 . Jeremiah 

Reynolds  died,  aged  82. 

19.  Thermometer  at  zero  in  the  morning . Jane, 

widow  of  the  late  Richard  Rhodes,  aged  82. . Mary, 

wife  of  the  late  Samuel  F.  Webster,  died,  aged  19. 

20.  Thermometer  10  degrees  below  zero. — The  rail 

road  ferry  boats  were  compelled  to  stop  running  before 
noon  by  the  strength  of  the  ice,  which  damaged  them 
very  much . William  Van  Valkenburgh  died,  aged  30. 


348 


Annals  of  1854 


21.  Mr.  Lush  offered  a  resolution  to  the  board  of 
supervisors  for  the  division  of  the  county,  which  was 

adopted  and  measures  taken  to  effect  the  same . 

Esther,  wife  of  John  Bernard,  died,  aged  29. 

22.  A  fire  broke  out  in  a  store  in  Hawk  street,  but 
was  subdued  with  trifling  damage. 

26.  Owen  Marrin  died,  aged  44. 

27.  The  ice  had  become  so  much  softened  by  a  few 
days  of  mild  and  rainy  weather,  that  a  sleigh  load  of 
rail  road  passengers  broke  through  and  narrowly  escaped 
drowning. 

28.  The  rail  road  ferry  boat  succeeded  in  making  a 
passage  through  the  ice,  which  had  become  weak  under 
the  thaw  and  rain  of  the  last  few  davs. .  .  .Mrs.  Catharine 

i/ 

Welsh  died,  aged  38 . Mrs.  Ruany  P.,  wife  of  James 

E.  Clark,  died,  aged  38. 

30.  The  ice  acquired  new  strength  from  the  frosts  of 
the  last  two  days,  and  the  ferries  were  again  closed  up. 

31.  The  Bank  of  Albany,  the  oldest  in  the  city,  de¬ 
clared  a  dividend  of  fifty  per  cent.  Its  charter  expired 
this  day,  and  its  officers  had  made  arrangements  to  begin 
the  new  year  under  a  new  charter  with  an  increased 

capital  . The  year  went  out  blandly  under  a  clear 

atmosphere  and  a  benign  sun,  forming  one  of  those  calm 
days  that  render  even  the  winter  season  delightful 
. A  difficulty  at  the  Alms  House  between  the  super¬ 
intendent  and  four  catholic  students,  who  were  accused 
of  taking  books  and  tracts  away  from  the  children. 

The  number  of  convictions  and  sentences  to  state  pri¬ 
son  was  greater  this  year  than  ever  before.  The  fol¬ 
lowing  table  shows  the  number  of  convictions  for  felony 
in  Albany  county  in  eleven  years. 


1844..  ..27 

1845 _ 26 

1846..  ..29 

1847.. . .27 

1848..  ..21 

1849.. .. 26 


1850  _ 36 

1851  _ 33 

1852..  ..28 

1853..  ..25 

1854..  ..43 


(  349  ) 


CRIMINAL  STATISTICS. 

1854. 


The  following  statement  gives  the  aggregate  amount  of 
the  business  of  the  Police  Court,  and  also  in  detail  the 
various  offences.  The  total  number  of  arrests  as  com¬ 
pared  with  the  previous  years,  varies  60.  While  all  the 
offences  classified  are  misdemeanors  and  felonies,  it  should 
be  understood  that  many  of  the  arrests  under  corporation 
ordinances  were  for  substantially  the  same  offences, 
especially  such  as  selling  liquor  contrary  to  law,  main* 
taining  nuisances,  selling  unwholesome  meat,  &c.,  &c. 

The  whole  number  of  persons  arrested  for  criminal  offen¬ 
ces  was  (males  3349,  females  653)  . . 4002 

Number  of  persons  arrested  for  violation  of  corporation  or¬ 
dinances. . 386 

Number  of  search  warrants  executed .  70 

Number  of  persons  committed  to  Jail . 1583 

Number  of  persons  sentenced  to  the  Penitentiary  by  the 

police  justices .  135 

Number  of  persons  sentenced  to  the  House  of  Refuge  by  do  13 
Number  of  persons  sentenced  to  the  Jail  at  hard  labor  by  do  17 
Number  of  persons  committed  to  the  State  Lunatic  Asylum 
at  Utica. . .  4 


The  several  arrests  were  for  the  following  offences,  viz: — 


Offences  against  the  Person. 

Murder . . .  2 

Robbery .  '  5 

Assaults  with  intent  to  rob . . . .  . .  5 

Rape  and  assaults  with  intent  to  commit .  12 

Assaults  with  deadly  weapons  with  intent  to  kill .  16 

Assault  and  battery . 1152 

Attempt  to  commit  suicide . 2 

Maliciously  enticing  child  from  parents . . .  1 

Wanton  exposure  of  child . 1 


350  Criminal  Statistics  for  the  year  1854. 

Malicious  mischief . . . .  43 

Maliciously  placing  obstructions  on  rail  road  track .  2 

Opening  sealed  letter . 

Attempting  to  steal  by  safe  game  and  like  pretences .  5 

Offences  against  the  Public  Peace. 

Riot  and  affray .  145 

Breach  of  the  peace  . .  588 

Threats  to  commit  offences .  21 

Violently  entering  dwelling  houses  in  night  time  and  dis¬ 
turbing  the  peace . 37 

Keeping  disorderly  house .  25 

Indecent  intoxication  in  the  street .  396 

Unlawful  assembly . . . * .  20 

Disturbing  religious  meetings . 2 

Deranged  persons  arrested . » . . . .  13 

Offences  against  Public  Justice. 

Perjury . 1 

Receiving  stolen  goods,  scienter .  13 

Assault  and  battery  on  officers  and  attempts  to  rescue  pri¬ 
soners . . .  140 

Refusing  to  assist  officers . * . . . .  3 

Contempt  of  court . 3 

Compounding  a  felony .  1 

Aiding  escape  of  a  felon .  1 

Escaping  from  Jail  and  Penitentiary .  2 

Offences  against  Decency  and  Morality. 

Keeping  common  bawdy-house .  13 

Disorderly  persons,  common  prostitutes .  23 

Indecent  exposure  of  person  and  obscene  language .  22 

Selling  obscene  books . 6 

Incest  . .  . .  2 

Violation  of  the  sabbath . 22 

Offences  against  Property. 

Burglary .  37 

Gi  ’and  Larceny .  65 

Petit  “  . . . .  491 

Arson . 3 

Forgery .  4 

Forgery,  passing  counterfeit  money,  scienter . 47 

False  pretences . 33 

Embezzlement . . .  8 


351 


Criminal  Statistics  for  the  year  1854. 

Willful  trespass . . . . . .  22 

Cruelty  to  animals .  2 

Wantonly  disinterring  bodies .  1 

Offences  against  Public  Trade. 

Selling  unwholesome  meat .  4 

Peddling  foreign  goods  without  license .  2 

Offences  against  the  Public  Health  and  the  Public  Police 

or  Economy. 

Maintaining  common  nuisances .  43 

Nuisance  obstructing  highway.. .  2 

Bastardy .  18 

Seduction . 4 

Bigamy . 1 

Disorderly  persons,  neglecting  to  support  families . 47 

Vagrancy . . . 219 

Keeping  common  gaming-house... .  3 

Violation  of  law  relating  to  immigrants .  17 

Winning  more  than  $25  by  gambling .  11 

Wantonly  injuring  gas  pipes . 1 

Willful  disobedience  of  parents,  &c., .  12 

Keeping  a  vicious  dog..* . 9 

Selling  liquor  to  be  drank  on  premises  under  grocers’  license  82 
Selling  liquor  on  Sunday  —  prosecution  under  revised 

statutes .  26 

Secretly  conveying  liquor  into  jail .  1 

Using  signal  of  policemen . . 1 


\ 


INDEX 


Academy,  107,  110. 

Accounts  called  in,  246,  247,  253, 
287. 

African  Sunday  School,  114. 

School,  115. 

Aldrich,  Harris,  343. 

Aldrich,  Z.,  334. 

Alexander,  Joseph,  339'. 

Aliens  not  to  trade  without  li¬ 
cense,  258,  268. 

Allen,  Horace,  132. 

Alms  house,  107,  319. 

Andrews,  Wm.,  54,  58. 
Anti-temperance  row,  327. 
Arensius,  dominie,  47. 

Argus,  204,  337. 

Arms,  Noadiah  L.,  132. 
Assessments,  246,  247,  264,  265,- 
276,  278,  288. 

Associate  Ref.  Ch.,  223,  225. 
Avery,  Amos,  343. 

Backhaus,  Wm.,  336. 

Bakers  stop  business,  103. 

Bank  of  Albany,  348. 

speculations,  100,  101,  102, 
103. 

suspend,  105. 
stock,  339. 
of  the  Union,  319. 
of  U.  S.,  127. 

Banyar,  G.,  111. 

Banner  presentation,  339. 

Baptist  Church,  106,  128. 

South,  336. 
collection,  330. 
Barclay,  Henry,  54,  60,  61. 

Rev.  Thos.,  50,  53,58,  66. 
Barnacle,  killed  by  fall,  333. 


Barnes,  D.  M.,  320. 

Barstow,  Samuel,  333. 
Bartholomew,  Capt.,  124. 

Bay,  Dr.  Wm.,  116. 

Bayard,  Mrs.  E  ,  320. 

Bear,  323,  343. 

Beasley,  Fred’k,  56. 

Beavers,  value  of,  SO,  82. 

Beck,  Dr.  T.  R.,  110,  123,  124. 
Bedini’s  effigy  burnt,  321. 

Bell  from  Holland,  128. 

Congregational,  343. 
Bellman,  289. 

Bement,  Wm.,  133. 

Bender,  C  W.,  342. 

Bethel,  disturbance  at,  344. 

Bew,  John,  341. 

Bible  Society,  104. 

Bills,  abolition  of,  ill,  126. 
Birdsall  shot,  130. 

Bleecker,  John  N.,  134. 

Boat  arrived,  347. 

Boston  shoes,  123. 

travel  to,  105. 

Boughton,  Wm.,  336. 

Bradley,  Joshua,  129. 

Brainard,  Geo.,  334. 

H.  S.,  337. 

Bread,  assize  of,  101,  103,  106. 
125,  288.  ' 

export  prohibited,  263. 
Bridges,  243,  244. 

Bridge  over  Hudson,  104,  323. 
Brower,  Hessel,  139. 

Brown,  Thos.,  55. 

Buckbee,  Capt.  John,  324. 

Buel,  Charles,  329, 

Jesse,  139,  201. 


354 


Index 


Bunker,  Elihu,  37. 

Burbank,  R.  G.,  346. 

Burgert,  Coenraet,  98. 

Burgesses  Corps,  340,  342,  343. 
Butchers,  regulations,  264. 

Canal,  113,  122,  125,  126. 
election,  322. 
opened,  328. 
first  boat,  328. 
closed,  346. 

Candles  for  guards,  253. 

Car  of  Neptune,  27,  38,  117,  119. 
Carr,  Prof.,  320. 

Carters’  prices,  257. 

Cary,  Ira  B.,  320. 

Catholic  Church,  106. 

benevolence,  340. 

Cattle  train,  331. 

Cavalry  corps,  320. 

Census,  105. 

Chancellor  Kent,  38. 

Livingston,  125. 
Chapman,  John  W.,  342. 

Charles,  Thos.,  334. 

Cheeseman,  Calvin,  124. 

Cholera,  333,  334,  335,  336,  337, 
342. 

hospital,  336. 

Church  collection,  102,  103,  104, 
106,  113,  340. 

City  gates,  243,  252. 

•loan,  323,  329,  330. 

Clark,  Josiah,  331. 

Paul,  141. 

Clergymen,  list  of,  106. 

Clermont,  18,  44. 

dimensions  of,  28. ' 
Clowes,  Timothy,  56. 

Coal,  321. 

used  for  fuel,  117. 
mines  103,  111,  120,  122. 
Cobbett,  110. 

Cohn,  Rabbi,  332. 

Cold,  120,  127,  347. 
season,  114,  117. 
week,  326. 

Cole,  John  O.,  117. 

Colonie  annexed,  106. 


Comet  of  1680,  95. 

Commons,  acts  relating  to,  279, 
280,  284. 

Concert,  old  folks1,  324,  336. 
Congregational  bell,  343. 
Consistory,  great,  107. 

Contempt  of  court,  287. 
Continentals,  339,  341. 

Cook,  John,  102,  117. 

Cooney,  Wm.,  333. 

Corn,  scarcity  of,  96. 

Corning,  E.,  347. 

Councilmen,  fine  for  non-attend¬ 
ance,  284. 

County,  proposed  division,  348. 
Court  calendar,  340. 

Courtney,  Joseph,  342. 

Robt.  T.,  342. 

Cowell,  Walter,  333. 

Crapo,  Edgar,  321. 

Criminal  statistics,  348,  349. 
Croswell,  Edwin,  319,  337. 
Cultivator,  209. 

Gumming,  Hooper,  1 2n,  226. 
Currency,  80,  82. 

Cutting  wood  on  manor  prohibited, 
279. 

Daily  Advertiser,  111. 

Danielse,  Symon,  253 
Davis,  Nathaniel,  339. 

De  Bois,  Rev.,  51. 

Debtors  in  jail,  111,  119. 

Dellius,  Mr.,  52,  65,  78. 

Dexter,  James,  117. 

Dick,  Jenny,  322. 

Dickerman,  J.  R.,  144. 

Directory,  100, 

Dorr,  Elisha,  302. 

Dowd,  Wm.,  333. 

Dox,  Peter  P.,  185,  109,  112,  145. 
Gerrit  L.,  112. 

state  treasurer,  121. 

Drouth,  334. 

Drowned,  337. 

Duesnoerry,  Rich'd,  106,  113,  145. 
Dutch  church,  51 , 67,  94, 102,  104. 
rebuilding,  86. 
incorporation,  87,  90 


Index 


355 


Dutch  church,  patent,  91. 

property,  92. 
division  of,  106. 
inscriptions,  131. 
Dwight,  Theodore,  111. 

Eclipse  of  sun,  330. 

Effigy  of  Bedini  burnt,  321. 
Election,  charter,  125,  128,  249, 
266,  279,  288. 
of  constable,  285. 
results,  115,  117,  123. 
Ellison,  Thos  56. 

Episcopal  church,  50,  102,  104, 

106,  129. 
opened,  54. 

Engine  excursion,  341. 

Esleeck,  Welcome,  117. 

Estates,  value  of,  247. 
Experiment,  packet  sloop,  36. 
Fair,  342. 

Fall  from  a  great  hight,  319. 
Fanning,  Amos,  328. 

Fast  driving,  283. 

Fences  ordered  removed,  254. 
Female  equestrians,  342. 

Ferry  open,  348. 
closed,  348. 

Fire,  126,  321,  322,  323,  325,  326, 
327,  328,  329,  330,  331, 
332,  333,  335,  336,  337, 
339,  341,  344,  346>  347, 
348. 

masters,  252,  267,  281. 
watch,  289. 
surveyors,  252. 
hooks  and  ladders.  252. 
on  commons,  115. 
wood,  253,  254,  255,  256, 
266,  267. 

Fines,  252. 

First  Presb.  church,  102, 106,  125. 
Flour,  1 03,  321. 

Fodder  regulations,  269. 

Fonda,  Douw,  148. 

Ford,  Eliakim,  346. 

T.  W.,  123. 

Fortifications  repaired,  258. 
Frederickse,  Myndert,  47. 

[Annals,  vi.]  31 


Freeman,  Mr.,  52. 

Freshet,  128. 

Frontier,  state  of,  247. 

relief  for,  104. 

Fulton,  15. 

steam  boat,  39. 

Gale,  325. 

Gansevoort,  Dr.  Peter,  150. 

Gen.  Peter,  150. 
Leonard  P„,  149. 
Harme,  149. 

Peter,  112,  130. 
Gannon,  Dr.  P.,  321. 

Garnsey,  John,  150. 

Garrison,  247. 

Gas  light,  121, 

German  Baptist  mission,  344. 

opera,  327. 

Gibb,  Thos.  W.,  324. 

Gifford,  Daniel,  327. 

Gill,  John,  125. 

Goold  &  Co.,  Jas.,  119. 

Grant,  Mrs.,  298. 

Great  guns  repaired,  270. 

Green  &  Co.,  publishers,  101. 
Gregory  &  Bain,.  111. 

Groesbeck,  Mrs.  Alida,  321. 

W.  W.,  320. 

Gutters,  283. 

Hague,  J.  M.,  344. 

Hamilton,  Mrs.,  344. 

Hansen,  Henry,  60. 

opposes  building  church,  88> 
Harcourt,  J.  W.,  320. 

Harrison,  John,  335. 

Hastings,  H.  J  ,  319. 

Hebeysen,  Martin,  154. 

Hendrik,  59. 

Hendrickson  sentenced,  327. 

executed,  328. 

Henry  Eckford,  39. 

Hewitt  convicted,  334. 

High  water,  322,. 324,  328. 
Highway  robbery,  330.. 

Hitchcock,  Capt.,  339. 

Hill,  Rev.  J.  N.,  336. 

Hochstrasser  &  Boldeman,  122. 
Hogs,  ringing  of,  243,  268,  284* 


356 


Index 


Holidays,  112. 

Home  of  Friendless,  324. 

Hollie,  Wm.,  281,  282,  283. 
Horse  boat,  37. 

Hosford,  David,  329. 

Hospital  removed,  336. 

for  orphans,  340. 

Hudson  river,  steam  boat  on,  11, 
14. 

sloop,  36. 
horse  boat,  37. 
navigation  to  Troy,  104. 
bridge  Co.,  104. 
opened,  113,  122. 
sloop  freight,  114. 
freshet,  128. 

Hudson  st.  Temp.  House,  324. 
Humane  Society,  104. 

Humphrey,-  Friend,  325. 
Huntington,  Joel,  336. 

Hurll,  Geo.  H.  327. 

Hyslop  &  Co.  111. 

Ice,  329.- 

moved  out,  320,  324. 
broken  through,  348. 
Illumination  for  peace,  106. 
Immigrants,  330. 

Imprisonment  for  debt,  119,  128. 
Indian  trade,  262,  272. 

Indian  goods,  118. 

presents,  60. 

Insane  poor,.  319. 

Indians,  plowing  for,  257. 
rumors,  270. 
regulations,  271. 

Indigent  women  and  children  so¬ 
ciety,  102,  103,  106,  113, 
114,  122. 

Isaac  Newton  steamer,  340. 

Jail,  debtors  in,  111,  119. 
old,  336. 
escape  from,  336. 

James,  Rev.  Wm.  237. 

Jenkins,  Elisha,  115. 

Jones,  John,  346. 

Judgment  record,  292. 

Kane,  Archibald,  126. 

C.  V.  S.  341. 

J.  &  A.  109. 


Kansas  immigrants,  339,  343. 
Kinderhook,  church  at,  97 
King,  Rufus  H.,  106 
Kittle,  Daniel  S.,  159 
Sybrant,  160 

Lacey,  Wm.  B.,  57,  129,  338 
Ladd,  James,  110 
LaGrange,  Arie,  161 
Lancaster,  Joseph,  130 

school,  107,  113,  123 
Land,  price  of,  253 
Lansing,  John  J.,  162 
Sander  I.,  161 
Leddy,  P.  B.,  321 
Lee,  George  C.,  321 
William  H.,  319 
Legislature  convened,  118 
Lewis,  Robert,  342 
Leisler,  Jacob,  71,  74 
Linacre,  Thomas,  327 
Liquors,  ordinance,  251,  271,  272- 
282,  290- 

Livingston,  Robert,  11,  15 
Lots  sold,  270 
Low  water,  342 
Loveridge,  Cicero,  164 
Lovett,  John  E.,  117 
Luce  &  Co.,  122 
Lumber  trade,  332 
Lutheran  church,  46,  118 
Lydius,  Balt.,  112 

Dominie,  51,  85 
McCall,  H.  S.,  320 
McClallen,  Robert,  126 
McClelland,  W.  W.,  332 
McClusky,  Paul,  337 
McDonald,  Rev.  John,  203 
church,  106 

McDuffie  house  assaulted,  340 
McGuigan,  Francis,  323 
McHarg  &  King,  106 
McJimsey,  John,  223 
McLean,  Capt.,  343 
McNaughton,  Jas.  126. 

Mack,  Elisha,  346. 

Mails,  127. 

to  Brattleboro,  105 
Mancius,  G.  W.  105. 

Dr.  Wilh.,  105 


Index. 


357 


Mancius,  Jacob,  165. 

Market  regulations,  265. 

Marselis  Ahasuerus,  292. 

Mayer  Conrad  S.  331. 

Meadon,  Win.  333. 

Mech’s  &  Far’s  Bank,  101. 
Megapolensis,  Rev.  94. 

Meier,  J.  H.  166. 

Meigs,  J.  V.  L.  341. 

R.  M.  122. 

Mesick,  Stephen,  323. 

Methodist  church,  103. 

Militia  ordered  out,  261. 
Millburne,  Jacob,  70,  74. 

Miller,  Christian,  167. 

Miln,  Rev.  54. 

Mills,  Col.,  killed,  100. 
Minister’s  house,  74. 

Mohawk  church,  94. 
Montgomery’s  remains,  129. 
Moor,  Rev.  T.,  53,  65 
Moral  society,  115 
Moving  by  water,  328 
Munro,  Harry,  55 
Museum  lit  by  gas,  121. 

Nebraska  meeting,  325. 

Neill,  Rev.  Dr.  110. 

Nessle,  Wm.  346. 

Newspapers,  notes  from,  100. 
Nieuwenhuysen,  Rev.  67. 

Night  guards,  253. 

North  River  steam  boat,  27,  38. 
Northern  Rail  Road,  323,  329, 
330,  331,  334,  341. 

Norton,  Lambert,  130. 

Nott,  Dr.  E.  104,  129,  229. 
Ogilvie,  John,  54. 

Olcott,  T.  W,  124,  23S. 

Oldest  inhabitant,  321. 

Orcutt’s  pottery  fell,  341. 

Oregon  steam  boat,  325. 

Osborn,  Capt.  J.,  319,  320. 
Paragon,  38. 

Parker’s  tavern  burnt,  126. 
Parmalee,  Wm.  mayor,  320. 
Patroon  st.  wddened,  336. 

Pearl  street,  opening  of,  110. 
Perilous  feat  of  a  steam  boat,  347. 


Perkins,  W.  A.,  328. 

Perry’s  reception,  101,  102. 
Physicians  for  poor,  116. 

Plums,  302. 

Police  court,  349. 

costumed,  346. 
office,  119. 

Porters’  prices,  257. 

Potatoes,  321. 

Potter,  Horatio,  57,  342,  346. 
Poultry  show,  322, 

Powell’s  painting,  341. 

Pretty,  sheriff,  48. 

Pruyn,  172. 

Casparus,  126. 

J.  V.  L.,  347. 

Robt  H.,  3l9. 

Putnam,  Elisha,  322. 

Rain,  320,  338,  340. 

Rathbone,  Joel,  attacked,  329. 
Ravines  in  the  city,  100. 

Rawdon  and  Hatch,  130. 

Reading  room,  102,  117. 

Rice,  Joseph  T.  331. 

Richmond  steam  boat,  38. 

River  improvement,  329. 

improvement  vetoed,  336. 
open,  325,  113. 
crossed  on  ice,  347. 
closed,  346. 

Robbery,  326. 

Roorback,  Capt.,  117. 

Rounds  passage,  278. 

Russell  &  Davis,  122. 

Thos.,  Jos.  &  Elihu,  122. 
Ruttenkill  to  be  cleaned,  277. 

St.  Paul’s  church,  335. 

St.  Peter’s  church,  53,  64,  316. 
Sabbath  school.,  114, 

Safety  barges,  40. 

Salamander  works,  339. 
Salisbury,  Capt.,  72. 

Sanders,  Barent,  331. 

Saratoga  patent,  245,  254. 
Savings  bank,  329. 

Saw  mill,  248. 

Schaets,  Anneke,  75,  76,  77. 

Gideon,  47,  72,  75,  94. 


358 


Index. 


Schaatekook,  242.,  244,  245,  257. 
School  appropriations,  107. 
Schuyler  house,  295. 

Jeremiah,  340. 

Peter,  271. 

Scotch  Presb.  Synod,  330. 

Seceders’  society,  120. 

Second  Presb.  church,  101,  110. 

Dutch  church  bell,  128, 
344. 

Serviss,  Wm  ,  334. 

Sexton,  267. 

Seymour,  Capt.  E.  345. 

Shaker  disturbances,  342. 
Shinplasters,  111,  124,  126. 
Simons,  John  H.  337. 

.Sipple,  John,  335. 

■Slason,  E.  B.  327. 

.'Slaves,  105. 

value  of,  249. 

Slavery  abolition,  120,  121. 
Slawson,  Jona.  330. 

Sloops,  passenger,  36. 

Smyth,  Charles,  39,  127. 

Snow,  116,  319,  327,  343,  346. 
Soldiers  complaint  of,  255. 

sent  to  Living,  manor,  259. 
to  be  raised,  266 . 
pawn  clothing,  &c.,  277. 
of  1812,  332. 
marched  to  frontier,  100. 
South  America  steamer,  42. 

Specie  premium,  112. 

Spelman,  B.  R.  343. 

Spencer,  Henry  T.  320. 

John  C.  307c 
Stafford,  Joab,  347. 

Spencer  &  Co.,  121. 
Stages,  102,  110,  219,  221. 
Stanton  &  Rice,  125. 

Stansbury,  A.  J.  125. 

State  ag.  society,  322. 

Hall,  316. 

Med.  society,  322. 
prison,  348. 
treasurer,  121. 

Steamboat,  on  the  Hudson,  7,  102, 
115,  123,  124. 


Steam  boat, 

launched,  17. 
arrived  at  Albany,  19. 
speed,  29,  42,  45. 
fuel,  39. 
list  of,  40. 
to  Troy,  102. 

Fulton,  104. 
coal  trial,  117. 
on  Lake  George,  124, 
receipts.,  340  . 

Stevens,  Samuel,  341. 

John,  14,  15. 

Robt.  L.  29. 

Stevenson,  Mark,  323. 

Stilwell  &  Wendell,  118.  , 

Stockadoes,  242,  243,  244,  251 
254,  267,267,  268,  268,  269, 
285. 

Story,  John,  347. 

Stringer,  Samuel,  124. 
Subscription  to  dominie,  79. 
Suicide,  330. 

Sunday  shops  closed,  331. 

Swine  prohibited,  331. 

Sword  to  Gen.  Brown,  120. 
Talbot,  Mr.  53,  65. 

Tan  pits,  243. 

Tayler,  John,  57,  121,  180. 
Taylor,  Jas.  325. 

James,  342. 

Taylor,  John,  343. 

Rev.  John,  218. 

Taxes  (see  assessments). 

Temple,  Robt.  E.  333. 

Temp,  society,  331. 

Theatre,  104,  114,  128,  340. 
Thermometer  112,  114,  118,  333 
334. 

below  0,  321,  112 
114,  120,  127,  347. 

Third  Presb.  ch.,  223. 

pastors,  240. 

Todd,  Adam,  319. 

Torchlight  procession,  332. 
Townsend,  John.,  338,  339. 
Townsend,  Mrs.  Isaiah,  344. 
Townsley,  Gad,  333. 


Index. 


359 


Trade,  allowed  only  to  freemen, 
258,  268. 

Transportation  prices,  127. 

Travel  to  Boston,  105. 

Tread  wheel  boat,  31. 

Trico,  Catelyn,  200. 

Troy  boats,  102,  124. 
navigation,  104. 
opposes  bridge,  104. 
population,  105,  123. 
chartered,  115. 

Trowbridge,  H.  121. 

Trumbull,  Robt.,  323. 

Tucker,  G.  F.  337. 

Tullidge,  Benj.,  335. 

Tweed  Dale,  W.  A.  113,  339. 
Unitarian  society,  103. 

University,  320. 

Van  Allen,  Evert,  336. 

Van  Benthuysen,  Benj.,  184. 

Van  Buren  &  Butler,  123. 
Vandenburgh,  Andrew,  344. 
Vanderpool,  Melgert,  248. 

Wynant,  242. 

Van  Driesen,  Peter,  86,  94. 

Van  Dyck,  Dr.  72. 

Van  Rensselaer,  Nicholas  67,  74. 

P.  S.  removed, 

117. 

PTenry  K.  117. 
Stephen,  123. 
Kilian,  prohibits 
cutting  wood  on  manor,  279, 
284. 

Van  Santvoord  A.  188. 

Van  Schaack,  J.  B  185. 

G.  W.  119. 

Van  Schelluyne,  Cors.  185. 

Van  Valkenburgh,  Stephen,  328, 
Van  Vechten,  Abraham,  187. 

Van  Vleck,  Paul  us,  97. 

Van  Valkenburgh,  John,  337. 


Van  Vranken,  Maus  R.  114. 
Van  Wagenen,  G.  H.  24. 
Vedder  John  S.  327. 

Vessels  increase  of,  332. 
Visscher,  Bastiaen  T.  192. 
Walsh,  Dudley.  116. 

William,  344. 

Walker,  Alphonso,  327. 

Henry  A.  326. 

W ashington’s  birthday,  323 . 

Thos.  B.  335. 
Waterman,  John  G.  328. 

Water  pond,  243. 

works,  123. 

WeemsJ  Capt.,  255. 

Wells,  244,  246,  258,  278,  285. 
Wendell,  Jacob  H.  195. 

John  H.  193. 

John  I.  326. 
Westerlo,  Rens.  115. 

town  formed,  105. 
Whale  exhibited,  127. 

White  woman,  first,  200. 
White,  Isaac,  340. 

Williams,  Durrell,  337. 
Wilson,  Rev.  A.  223. 

J.  Q.  23. 

Reuben,  329. 

Winants.  H.  L.  327. 

Winne,  David  P.  195. 

Wm.  B.  114. 

Women’s  rights,  323,  322. 
Wood,  price  increased,  117. 

Ichabod,  332. 

Woodruff.  S.  S.  342. 

Wright,  Ebenezer.  337. 
Wyckoff,  Rev.  I.  N.  344 
Wylie,  deaths  of,  333. 
Wynkoop,  Harman  G.  324. 
Yates,  Henry,  325. 

Young,  Wm.  A.  recorder,  320. 


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